


fire and ice (and more ice)

by lancesvoltron



Category: Sky High (2005), Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Elemental AU, Fire Keith, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, More Tags Will Be Added as the Story Goes On, Powers Lance, Sky High AU, hunk powers au, ice lance, kangst, keith powers au, klance, klangst, lance powers au, now introducing ... ADAM !!!! kinda?, pidge powers au, powers au, shiro powers au, there is ... way more angst than i anticipated i apologize
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-01-03 20:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 60,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12154140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lancesvoltron/pseuds/lancesvoltron
Summary: The last thing Lance wanted was to be dragged down by some incoming, hot-headed junior. Unfortunately, his class councilor had other ideas.Lance is tasked with mentoring Mr. Shirogane's little brother in the final semester of junior year, struggling to maintain both his GPA and this new friendship. Lance must help Keith on his way to both learn how to control his powers and learn how to hold genuine conversations with other people, although sometimes Lance isn't sure which one is harder.





	1. Hothead Sidekick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! the first chapter is short but the next one should be twice or three times as long. i hope you enjoy it!

Whenever Lance put his mind to something, he let nothing prevent him from achieving his goal.

Even in first grade, he practiced for hours upon hours of English vocabulary words in order to claim the first-place metal in his spelling bee, despite English being his second language. The adrenaline rush from participating in challenging events was addictive, and the pride on his family’s faces once completing the task in mind was even better. 

This competitive mentality never faltered; it was the one thing he knew he could rely on when facing a seemingly impossible task. Junior year presented possibly his greatest and most important challenge yet, one that Lance promised himself he would be the sole member of his class to achieve. So naturally, impractical distractions were forcefully thrust from his mind as his brain homed in on a single purpose. Unfortunately, sometimes distractions were completely and utterly unavoidable.

Somehow, Lance found himself on the wrong side of a desk, not in the position of power he had wanted, but instead being forced yet another obstruction on his road to success.

 “It’s only for a few weeks, just until he gains more control over his powers, Lance,” Mr. Shirogane, Lance’s charismatic class councilor, insisted. “I’ll have your professors add five percent to each of your classes if you successfully help him survive his first quarter here at Sky High.”

Lance scoffed, recalling how many, if not all, of his classes were already well above 95%, and the extra five percent wouldn’t be very useful to boost his grade. All he wanted was to be able to work his way to the top, and babysitting a socially awkward student was the exact opposite of something that would help him climb the ladder of success.

“Look, I appreciate that you think I would be the best man for this job, but I have so much on my plate right now!” Lance complained. “I’m second rank in the whole junior class, and I’m not only competing for first but I’m also working on my class president campaign! No offense, but I just don’t think I’ll have time to manage my academics, extracurriculars, the campaign, and help your little brother.”

Mr. Shirogane, not surprised at Lance’s indomitable stubbornness, rolled his eyes.

Shiro knew how difficult it could be to persuade Lance to partake in things he doesn’t want to, after spending an entire school semester attempting and failing to get Lance to join the academic team. He knew there had to be some sort of personal gain twisted into whatever agreement he offered Lance.

“Then this will be the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!” Mr. Shirogane started off tentatively, but became more enthusiastic when he saw the curiosity flicker in Lance’s eyes.

“The future Sky High student body president, Lance McClain, helps troublesome newbie find his place among the students. Both the underclassmen and your fellow peers will know they can count on you to guide them through hard times in the school year, just like you will do for my younger brother,” Shiro explained, painting a picture he was sure Lance wanted to see.

“Not to mention, the extra five percent in all of your classes will definitely push you over the top and raise your class rank to first. I’ll even convince Professor Allura to throw in some extra credit, which you know she never does”.

Suddenly struck with the realization that this arrangement actually had the possibility to be beneficial, Lance thoughtfully rubbed the back of his neck and began to ponder how he could weasel the best outcome out of an unfortunate situation.

Lance knew that this election was going to be a close one, and he could use all the assistance he could get in order to turn the tide in his favor. Lance, although still unsure if this agreement would guarantee a win in the long run, decided it was better than nothing.

“Okay, I’ll do it, but under one extra circumstance,” Lance said, a mischievous twinkle flashing in his ocean-blue irises.

Shiro nodded his head, inviting Lance to continue his offer.

“You raise the student body president campaign budget by 50 dollars so I can buy all the parts for my super-secret project to persuade voters on my side,” Lance cackled, pressing his fingertips together in a sinister way, attempting to imply some sort of evil scheme. Shiro found the whole act quite funny as he knew Lance would never actually partake in anything malicious.

Mr. Shirogane laughed, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Lance smiled back, not vaguely aware in the slightest of what he’d unintentionally gotten himself into.

\---

The following week, Lance used his first period study hall to meet his new, as Lance liked to think of it, “hothead sidekick”. Interestingly enough, from collecting what he learned about this kid in the past few days, Lance came to the conclusion that his powers were nothing similar to a sidekick’s. Mr. Shirogane explained the true extent of the situation coincidentally  _after_  Lance had agreed to take Shiro’s little (and apparently adopted?) brother under his wing.

His name was Keith, and he really was a hothead sidekick, except delete the “sidekick” part and insert a “uncontrollable fire powers that may burn all the hair off Lance’s body and leave him bald for the rest of his life” part.

Lance realized he was genuinely nervous, which he refused to admit out loud, but was quite obvious when his hands actually started to get clammy in their tightened fists. He took a deep breath and used his powers to freeze any remaining moisture on his hands and then used them once again to make the ice disappear into thin air.

An inexperienced, reckless teenager with fire powers, and a too experienced, extra cautious boy with ice.  _What could go wrong?_

Lance forced his feet towards the door. How would he know if he didn't at least try? He had someone help him control his dangerous powers many years ago, why should he turn away from passing on his knowledge to another? Lance could do this. He had to.

Lance opened the door and immediately saw Mr. Shirogane sitting at his mahogany desk with a slightly nervous looked plastered on his face, sitting opposite a black haired, pale-skinned teen.

“Lance,” Mr. Shirogane said, clearing his throat and rising from his chair. “Meet my little brother, Keith”.

Lance turned to the mystery boy sitting in the corner of the room and was met with a textbook, angsty-teen look; one that was all too familiar at a high school full of people who assumed they were better than everyone else.

“Hey, man. My name’s Lance. I'll be helping you around school for the next couple weeks,” Lance started, reaching out a hand for a handshake, only to be left hanging.

After no reply, Lance continued, “Mr. Shirogane has told me a lot about you! It's nice to finally put a face to the name”.

The only attention Keith gave to Lance’s suspended hand was a glare. “You don't want to do that, I burn everything I touch,” Keith stated, clearly sounding more annoyed than concerned.

Lance laughed coolly, “I promise you that won't be the case with me,” as he slightly bobbed his hand up and down to emphasize that his hand was still dangling in mid-air.

Keith rolled his eyes and gave Lance a bored shrug. “Don't say I didn't tell you so,” he said, as his hand met Lance’s.

Lance felt the familiar chilly tingle of his power spread across his outstretched hand before their hands collided. The initial contact with Keith was only a little hotter than expected, so he increased his power’s intensity slightly, but the overall temperature between them remained neutral.

Keith inhaled quickly as he realized Lance didn’t pull away from their handshake in pain. Lance gave him a smug look and, after a few seconds, let go and displayed the palms of his hands.

“ _Don't say I didn't tell you so_ ,” Lance mimicked, wiggling his fingers around to prove there were no burns to be seen. Keith appeared to be dumbfounded, a look that seemed foreign on his ‘I only act nonchalant’ face.

“Ice powers, baby,” Lance goaded, wiping the surprised look off Keith’s face. “What, you’ve never met anyone as cool as me before? Figuratively or literally?”

Keith blew a strand of hair out of his face and responded with yet another shrug, forcing his facial features to return to their slackened state. “I stopped meeting new people years ago. It never ended well.”

Lance saw Mr. Shirogane pull on the inside of his collar out of the corner of his eye, undoubtedly recalling some of these experiences.

“Well, this is going to be just peachy then, isn’t it?” Lance asked eagerly. “You get a super awesome mentor, a.k.a. me, at the best school in the world, a.k.a. this one. You’ll love it here.” Lance gave Keith his signature, beaming smile.

Keith rolled his eyes once more and looked over at his brother. Mr. Shirogane cleared his throat and pulled up a schedule on his black laptop, interestingly enough, as Lance noticed, following a very stylish continuity of a darkened aesthetic in which Shiro’s office seemed to maintain.

“Now that we have introductions out of the way, Keith, you will have the same schedule as Lance so you two can remain together for the semester.”

Lance tried and failed to hide his shocked expression. This was  _not_ part of their predetermined agreement. “Wait, the whole semester? We’ll have the same classes every day?”

“Don't sound too excited,” Keith said in a jaded tone as he took leathery, black gloves out of his pocket and proceeded to slowly slide them on his hands, finger by finger.

“Please, Mr. Shirogane. I can help Keith but I still need to focus on academics. I have a GPA to maintain!” Lance complained. Mr. Shirogane eyed him impatiently and started spinning a pen between his fingers.

“Lance, you are more capable than any other student at both tasks assigned. I have absolute faith in you,” he said.

Mr. Shirogane printed off Keith’s schedule, handed it to him, and with a dismissing wave of the hand, sent Keith and Lance on their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's the first chapter! let me know if you liked it :) thanks for reading!


	2. Fire and Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2! most chapters will probably be this long, but make sure to reply below if you want them to be shorter or longer! i'm thinking about updating around once a week if I can!

Lance and Keith still had a few minutes before their second class, so Lance decided to make first impressions count and showcase his favorite spot on campus. Lance lead Keith out to the courtyard, sat down on a bench facing the edge of the school, and admired the seemingly boundless, blue sky.

“So,” Lance started, trying to initiate a conversation where Keith would be interested to partake in, “Where’ve you been for the past couple years? It’s really rare to have someone join Sky High in the middle of not just their high school career, but the middle of a school year, too. It’s going to be tough catching up in your classes since we’re starting the second semester today.”

Lance glanced over at Keith, who had his back hunched and his palms flat on his knees, like he was trying to take up as little space on the bench as possible.

Keith wavered, his eyes flashing to a spot on the ground and staying there, refusing to look Lance in the eyes in fear of giving anything away, “Well I’ve been homeschooled for the past couple years by Shiro- I mean uh... Mr. Shirogane. He would come over after the school day was over and help me with my lessons.”

A spark of curiosity flickered through Lance, as he knew that almost no students had any knowledge of Mr. Shirogane’s life outside of teaching.

“So, what’s that like? I mean, Mr. Shirogane is _so_ badass. My friend Pidge loves hacking the school system and she found files of all our teachers’ power placement tryouts from forever ago. Mr. Shirogane’s test was straight up awesome, I wish I could have seen it for myself,” Lance gushed, sounding more like a fan than a student.

“He never uses his powers in school though and some people think he doesn’t have any, but I know he does. Has he ever used his powers in front of you? You know, being brothers and whatnot.”

Keith stared even harder at the grass, once again using shrugging as his only response. “Oh, come on,” Lance pressed further, “you have to be able to tell me something!”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Keith said furiously, his hair suddenly erupting in flames.

Lance jumped back from the bench and stood up, staring wildly at Keith. Keith didn’t seem to realize what happened until he looked up and saw the red and orange glint of the fire above him. He flailed his arms frantically and tried to pat away the fire, but nothing seemed to be dwindling the flame.

“Calm down, Keith! Move your hands away from your head!” Lance ordered as Keith continued to furiously slam his hands on his hair. “Keith trust me!” Lance shouted once again, this time managing to catch the boy’s attention.

Keith looked at Lance like he had suddenly told him to jump off a cliff head first, but he quickly threw his arms outwards into a T position. Without missing a beat, Lance shot a stream of ice from his fingertips, frosting over Keith’s hair and putting out the fire.

Keith yelped in surprise at the thin shavings of ice now coating his head, as Lance exhaled through his nose in relief. Lance walked over and started brushing the frost from Keith’s hair before Keith swatted his arm away.

“I can do it myself,” he said angrily.

Lance was taken back by the unwavering display of solidarity, despite him assisting Keith in putting out the blazing flames on his head. In the back of his mind, Lance wondered why Keith had such an intense reaction to fire, as it did no damage to his hair or his skin where the flames had licked.

“You know man, for this to work and for us to survive the semester together for every single moment of every single day, you could at least show some emotion, like... I don’t know, gratitude? Or maybe flash a ‘thank you’ smile? You don’t always have to act so tough, we all have our problems and we all help each other deal with them. That’s what being friends in high school is all about.”

Keith glared at Lance, his face as red as the fire only moments ago. “If I had needed your help, I would have asked for it!” Keith shouted, as he stormed away back into the school.

Lance shook his head and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t even upset at Keith stomping off, just frustrated at how childish he was acting. Lance remembered when he was just as naive as Keith is now, only that was many years ago, and Lance has spent hours upon hours of practicing controlling both his ability and his temper since then.

Lance groaned and followed Keith back inside the school just as the bell to release first period echoed through the hallways. However, when Lance got back inside, Keith was nowhere to be seen. Lance quickly scanned the halls, but the rush of students exiting class filled his vision and prevented him from seeing anything, much less a single short-tempered boy.

Lance gave up his halfhearted search and headed to class, hoping Keith would find his way there eventually. _Nice going, Lance_ , he thought, as he mentally smacked himself for letting Keith out of his sight. _Way to make the new kid feel at home._

\--

Lance walked into class and slumped down in his seat near the window, the guilt about losing Keith within the first hour manifested in his gut.

“What’s up, dude?” Hunk asked. “You’re pretty concerned about something.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry” Lance apologized, forgetting to try to conceal his emotions before sitting next to his friend. “I’m mentoring Mr. Shirogane’s brother and I lost him on the way to class.”

Hunk smiled sympathetically, “Don’t worry about it, he’ll turn up sooner or later. I’m sure he’s a smart guy.” Lance tried to take his friend’s advice but Hunk’s smile faltered when he realized Lance was truly concerned for this kid.

Lance noticed Hunk’s reaction and tried to push Keith from his mind. Hunk was an empath, and could feel and change other people’s emotions. Normally he had to focus to sense others’ feelings, but Lance and Hunk had been friends for roughly their entire life, causing Lance’s heightened emotions to seep into Hunk’s mind on their own accord.

Hunk only altered the emotions of others when it was deemed necessary. Hunk said it felt like invading people’s privacy, akin to fiddling with art in a museum that has an obvious “DO NOT TOUCH” sign hanging directly on it. It wasn’t the most terrible thing in the world, but the guilt of doing something was worse than the actual act itself.

Lance was about to speak and reassure them both that Keith would find his way to class, before their professor tapped on the board to commence the lesson. Even though Advanced Weaponry Construction and Content was one of his favorite heroes-only classes, he still had no idea what Professor Slav said approximately 90% of the time.

Thankfully, Pidge sat on his left and could translate the foreign language of mathematics, physics, or whatever crazy words came out the professor’s mouth for him. Pidge was not only crazy smart, but probably one of the most intelligent people Lance had ever known, even rivaling Professor Slav himself at times.

“Pass up the homework, please!” Professor Slav demanded impatiently, tapping a long, thin, wooden pointer on the chalkboard even though the bell to start class just barely rang.

Lance opened his backpack and pulled out the packet of notes they had to take over the weekend on the most tedious online hero seminar about sensor triggers and how to manually override them without blowing up whatever innocent civilians were trapped inside. A scene like that would definitely destroy any hero’s reputation, probably one of the reasons Lance actually paid attention when doing the work.

Hunk gave up his homework, consisting mainly of tiny doodles of bears and suns with different cartoon facial expressions, to Lance to hand up. Lance turned to Pidge who didn't even touch her bag sitting on the ground.

“Let me guess”, Lance asked, slightly exasperated. “You didn't do the homework. Again.” Pidge stretched her arms back and emitted an over-exaggerated yawn.

“Maybe I'll do it if I can actually learn something from it. I already know all this crap,” she said while carelessly rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses. Lance laughed and passed his and Hunk’s papers forward.

“Whatever you say, weirdo”. Lance looked at Pidge once again and wondered for the millionth time why Pidge didn't ever try in school. Heck, she was considerably smarter than Lance was, she should be the one trying to get first in the class, not him.

Pidge always complained about how the school system didn't test your intelligence, it just tested your ability to take standardized tests and kiss the professors’ asses. Lance understood where Pidge was coming from, as Lance was second in the class and tended to get on his teachers’ good side, but definitely wasn’t one of the smartest. Maybe if Lance was elected president he would try to help the geniuses like Pidge get the recognition they deserve.

Before Lance could finish daydreaming about the alterations he would make to Sky High if he was elected president, the fire alarms went off and interrupted his thoughts. Pidge flinched so hard in her seat that she jumped into the air, groaning at how loud the alarms were.

“You know, they could make these things just a little bit quieter,” she complained, and with a wave of her hand, lowered the volume on the alarm directly above her seat.

Lance speculated on if the fire alarms had actually gone off because of a fire or if this was a spontaneous drill, when the realization hit and his stomach sank. Hunk turned to Lance with an apprehensive expression on his face, and asked what was wrong.

“I have a terrible feeling that Keith may have been the one to set these alarms off,” Lance said nervously to his friend, knowing he was probably right. “We have to find him!”

“Maybe if he’s in some kind of trouble and is in distress, I can help find him! If he’s still on school grounds, I’ll be able to tell where he is!” Hunk exclaimed. Lance nodded his head and followed the horde of students heading out the door, only to turn deeper into the school instead of exiting with everyone else.

Hunk and Lance made their way through the hallway before Hunk hesitated and closed his eyes in concentration.

“I think there’s someone who feels trapped in the left wing of the school,” he said hesitantly after a few moments of gut-wrenching silence, “but the thing is there’s definitely more than one person with them. There’s at least three other people and they’re all panicking.” Lance’s heart sank into his stomach and he took off running in the direction of Hunk’s senses, barely waiting for his friend to follow.

When Lance reached the left wing, the sight he saw was worse than imagined. A janitor’s closet was on fire, with smoke and flames erupting from over the top of the closed door. Lance ran forward and frantically shook one of the three senior boys standing outside of it.

“What happened?” Lance shouted above the roar of both the fire and the alarms.

The boy he was hassling, regardless of his ostensibly tough demeanor, could only manage a soft squeaking sound as a reply, and Lance shook him harder.

“What happened!?” he repeated, this time with more force. The boy’s friend cut in before Lance shook the poor guy’s brains out.

“We saw some emo ass lookin’ kid walk by and w- we asked him if he needed help finding his way to class, ‘cause he looked lost, ya know?” the other boy said precariously. “But then we realized he was new and wasn’t a freshman so we were gonna play just a harmless little prank on him…” the boy trailed off before Lance suddenly realized that there were only three kids standing outside and Hunk had said he sensed four before they arrived.

“Is he still here?” Lance demanded, frost starting to form on the shirt of the boy he was still holding. “Where’s the kid!” The three boys cowered back in fear for a few moments, not answering Lance’s question. Suddenly more fire spewed from the top of the door and muffled screaming could be heard from inside.

Lance shoved the boy backwards and ran to the door handle of the closet.

“Keith?” he shouted. “Keith are you okay?” Lance started to panic when there was no response. “Okay I’m coming in, hold on!”

Lance felt his powers kick into gear, completely covering his hands and arms with a solid sheet of ice. He tugged on the door handle but it refused to budge, so Lance grabbed it firmly and froze it entirely. The metal handle shattered under his fingertips and Lance pushed the door inwards, the fire engulfing him completely.

Before the fire burned him alive, Lance covered his whole body in ice. He couldn’t see Keith, or anything for that matter, except for the blinding colors of the fire. Lance knew what he had to do, but he had to make sure he didn’t lose control and accidentally freeze the entire school in the process.

Lance took a deep breath and shut his eyes, focusing on his power and the room around him. If he wasn't careful, he could turn Keith a solid ice statue, and Lance was pretty sure that wouldn’t fly too well with Mr. Shirogane. He felt painful tingles rise to the surface of his skin, like needles trying to escape his body from the inside out.

With one motion, Lance threw his hands upwards and the entire room was suddenly encased in ice; completely covering every corner, every mop, every broom, and every person inside the room.

Lance blinked to clear both his mind and eyes, and fully saw his surroundings. Keith was in the middle of the room, curled into a ball, his hands tangled in his hair in fists. His eyes were glued shut and his mouth was open in a wide ‘O’. Luckily, Lance could tell that Keith wasn’t frozen solid, only just covered.

Even though everything was frozen, he could tell that the fire had been going on long enough and was intense enough to melt most of the objects surrounding Keith. Lance felt bad for the kid, who genuinely looked like he was in some sort of pain. Lance was just about to bring his hands back down and unfreeze the room before Mr. Shirogane bust through the door.

Mr. Shirogane gasped at the entire room, realizing that it was entirely covered in ice. He turned his attention away from the ice and quickly saw Keith’s predicament. His eyes widened and he rushed forwards, placing his hand on the frozen Keith figure hunched on the ground.

Mr. Shirogane’s wild eyes turned to Lance and Lance realized this would probably be a good time to unfreeze Shiro’s younger brother. Lance brought his arms down and every bit of ice in the room disappeared.

Keith’s screaming started again as soon as the ice was gone, seemingly unaware of the sudden change of events, but then suddenly noticed that the fire had ceased and he was not alone in the room anymore. Keith stumbled backwards, placing his hands behind him for support, but obviously still surprised.

“W- what just happened?” Keith asked hesitantly, staring up at Lance and his brother.

Mr. Shirogane knelt down and offered his hand to his brother to help him stand up, and Keith gratefully took it, his whole body shaking in either fear or exhaustion.

“How did you all get here? Why did the fire suddenly stop?” Keith looked at Shiro for an explanation, and when Shiro’s eyes gave no answers, he turned to Lance.

Lance winced and nervously cracked his knuckles, unsure of how to explain himself, when he abruptly staggered backwards and held his hands to his head as a nasty headache began to form, no doubt a side effect of exerting himself so much.

“You okay there, Lance?” Mr. Shirogane asked Lance, who feebly nodded his head.

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m great! Just a small headache,” he paused and winked, “maybe it’s a brain freeze from all this super cool ice.”

Keith groaned, and Mr. Shirogane, who was normally a pretty easygoing guy, seemed quite blasé about Lance’s attempt to lighten the mood.

“I’m going to need you to come back to my office before I send you to your next class. We have a lot to discuss,” he eyed Lance and Keith, “both of you.”

Fear erupted in the pit of Lance’s stomach, but he still followed Mr. Shirogane and Keith out of the closet. Lance knew that he really messed up this time. Lance, although always putting on a convincing facade of being cool, rebellious, and independent, was scared to death of the consequences that came to those who acted out.

Lance honestly had no idea if Mr. Shirogane was actually angry with Lance, but why wouldn’t he be? Lance let his little brother out of his sight, only for Keith to be locked in a closet, which he conveniently happened to set on fire.

As he sulked away from the damage caused by the flames, Lance noticed that the three senior boys and Hunk were nowhere to be seen, probably just escorted back to class by another teacher. Lance sighed, wishing his best friend was by his side at this moment. Lance knew he doesn’t get scared easily, but the thought of Mr. Shirogane angry would make anyone wet their pants on sight.

Lance and Keith followed Mr. Shirogane to his office, growing closer and closer with each step. Once they finally reached it and walked inside, Lance was convinced his heart was about to burst out of his chest with each rapid, thunderous beat.

Shiro motioned to Lance and Keith to sit down as he shakily sat down in his own. Was Shiro so angry that he was physically shaking? Lance’s hands began to sweat and he didn’t dare try using his powers to freeze the perspiration away, unsure of how Mr. Shirogane would react to him using his powers without permission once again.

Shiro leaned back in his chair, his eyes switching from Keith to Lance without saying a word. Finally, he cleared his throat.

“So, who wants to explain to me exactly what happened here?” he demanded, his eyes boring into Lance’s soul, extracting whatever ounce of confidence was left hiding under the fear.

Lance sputtered and choked, “I am so sorry, Mr. Shirogane, it’s all my fault. I lost Keith on the way to class and I couldn’t find him so I went to class hoping he would find his way but then the fire alarm went off and I went to go find him and I saw the closet on fire so I went in to see if I could help but there was just so much fire so I had to freeze the closet to cover the fire and put it out and-” Mr. Shirogane raised his hand and cut Lance off mid-sentence. Lance immediately shut his mouth, fear coursing through him once again like an electric current.

Shiro turned to Keith and put his hands behind his head, “What happened?”

Keith sighed, not wanting to reveal the embarrassing event that just unfolded. Even though Keith was introduced to this Lance guy only a few hours ago, he knew he couldn’t let him take the fall for something that was Keith’s fault.

“I, uh, stormed off earlier this morning and got lost. I roamed the halls for a while before I realized I should go to class, so…” Keith trailed off. “So, I asked these three kids for directions since they looked like seniors who knew their way around. They started asking me questions about why they’ve never seen me before, since they knew I was on my way to a heroes-only class, and so I told them I was new. They locked me in a closet and I, uh…”

Keith swallowed but nothing happened, his mouth as dry as paper. His throat closed up and he kept his eyes wide and unmoving, refusing to blink or speak in hopes of preventing himself from crying. Luckily, whatever was going through Keith’s mind was quickly noticed by Shiro, and he leaned forward in his chair.

“Whatever happened,” Shiro said, ending Keith’s internal conflict before it rose to the surface, “I’m sure it was not intentionally caused by either of you. That being said, you both need to be more careful. It’s your first day together for Christ’s sake, and you already melted a janitor’s closet.  Tomorrow can you at least try not to destroy anything else?”

Lance gasped under his breath. Mr. Shirogane was actually letting this slide even though they probably broke at least 15 different school rules within the span of five minutes? Lance was so shocked that he didn’t even notice as Keith got up to leave.

Lance collected his thoughts and hastily stood up, sincerely thanked Mr. Shirogane, and hoped he didn’t look as disheveled as he felt. He turned to follow Keith out the door when Shiro spoke up and stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Hey Lance,” Shiro asked, an unidentifiable emotion flickering in his eyes and he turned to look at him. “Do you mind if I talk to Keith for a brief moment? Preferably alone.”

“Y-yes of course,” Lance managed, sliding past Keith and stepping out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

Once Lance had left the room, Keith walked forward hesitantly, unsure of what Shiro was about to ask of him.

Shiro brought his elbows up to rest on his desk, placing his fingertips against his temples and rubbing them in small circles. Keith examined Shiro’s face and noticed that small beads of sweat had collected on his paler-than-normal face, all while the shivering he saw earlier was steadily increasing.

Keith stepped in closer and brought his voice down to a whisper, as to not give any indications of their conversation to Lance standing outside.

“Did-” Keith faltered, nervous of even asking his question in fear of the answer he may receive, “Did you have to use your power?”

Shiro remained silent for a few moments, cleared his throat, and looked up into his brother’s eyes.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it. If I didn’t use my power, everyone left in the building would have been frozen solid. I had to move everyone else to...” Shiro’s eyes flickered down to look at his watch, “to 12:45, just so they would have all been evacuated and could have avoided being frozen by Lance.” Keith’s throat closed up on Shiro’s tone, seemingly portraying Lance as some sort of evil villain. What did he mean, ‘being frozen by Lance’?

“You know how Lance said he only froze the room you were in?” Shiro slumped further down in his chair, pulling on his necktie and loosening it completely, the exhaustion from the use of his power radiating off of him in waves. “He didn’t freeze just the room. He froze the _entire_ building.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and there we go! if stuff about powers is a little confusing, don't worry. everything will be explained in due time. i can't wait to post the next chapter! remember, you're free to reply with comments or criticisms anytime you want. all feedback helps make this a better story! see you in chapter 3!


	3. Unlikely Solutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter three is now here! i ended up completely rewriting the first half of the chapter a ton of times because i could never get a result i enjoyed... hopefully this isn't too bad! in this chapter, keith and lance explore their powers possibly a little too much, which forces them into a situation keith may not necessarily enjoy... at least as of now :)

Keith was never the best when it came to making friends. Actually, it was probably safe to say he pretty much sucked at it.

Everyone he even started to get close to, he ended up intentionally pushing them or accidentally scaring them away. No matter the category his relationships fell under, his friends always eventually left him just as he was before he met them; alone and abandoned.

It wasn’t just his friends that left him in the dust, everyone he had ever known had turned their back on him sooner or later (normally relatively sooner rather than later). The only one who had ever stuck by Keith’s side throughout the years was Shiro. Shiro knew all of Keith’s secrets, insecurities, and hidden doubts, and for some reason, that made Keith feel more at ease.

Keith had bared the weight of all his problems for more years than he could remember, at least, until Shiro came along. Keith had tried his best to keep his problems his own, but eventually it was too much, and everything came pouring out of him like a ruptured dam. Keith no longer had to bear his burdens alone, and for that, Keith owed Shiro more than his life. He owed him everything he was today.

Unfortunately, Keith knew Shiro wouldn’t always be there for him, no matter how hard he tried. One day, Shiro wouldn’t be able to carry him through the rough patches, or help him stand when all he wanted to do was fall.

And it was terrifying.

When Shiro confronted Keith about attending public school, a part of Keith was secretly ecstatic. Keith promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make friends. That’s not saying he necessarily wanted friends, but he _needed_ friends. 

So when Keith first met Lance, he was shocked when he reverted to his secluded self even though he tried his best not to. To make things worse, he lost his temper and caused his hair to actually catch on fire. Now not only did Lance think he was a loser, he knew that Keith couldn’t control his own powers and put out the fires he created. 

But wait, there’s more! Since the universe happened to hate Keith, he ended up burning down a FUCKING CLOSET. Who does that? The emotions coursing through Keith’s body were the perfect combination of everything he despised with every ounce of his being. Anger, hatred, annoyance, irritation, and disgust, consumed his every thought, all of which were directed at himself.

Keith had felt hopeless at one point in his life, and now that he had moved past this loss of control, he _never_ wanted to feel it again.

All these thoughts were boiling inside Keith’s mind when he came outside Shiro’s office to see Lance standing with one foot on the wall and his arms folded across his chest. Keith instinctively took a step backwards as to avoid reflecting the possible side effects of his amplified emotions onto someone else.

Lance saw his retreat and flinched, slightly turning away and moving himself backwards as well.

Keith regretted this as soon as he realized what he had done. Taking a step backwards might have made it seem like Keith was scared of what Lance did to freeze the room, but in reality, it was the exact opposite. Keith was scared of _himself_.

Of course, Keith would be the only one to find a way to push the sole person he had met so far at this stupid high school away even after he promised himself he wouldn’t let that happen. He knew Lance probably felt guilty for what Keith had done, even though it wasn’t Lance’s fault. 

“Listen, Lance,” Keith started, unsure how to continue without sounding pathetic. “It’s not your fault for what happened, I’m sorry.” 

Lance blinked and choked on his own words. “W-wait, what? No, don’t apologize! I’m the one watching _you_. Whatever happens when you’re under my watch is _my_ fault!” 

“I’m not a kid, I can look after myself, thanks,” Keith complained broodily. Lance elbowed him, the previous light that Keith had seen earlier that day returning to his eyes, although Keith wondered if it was forced or not.

“Oh come on, I am _totally_ a Keith babysitter. This is your first time in an actual high school. You’re practically a child,” Lance joked.

Keith shoved his arm away. Sure, Keith didn’t want to completely push whatever opportunity he had at making a new friend away, but he sure as hell was still uncomfortable with physical contact. 

Keith tried his hardest to remain lighthearted throughout the day in order to stay on Lance’s good side, but Keith soon realized that Lance really knew how to push someone’s buttons. After spending another hour or so with him, Keith was overwhelmed by how upfront and outgoing Lance was.

Lance introduced Keith to two of his friends during their lunch period, and Keith was shocked when he compared the personalities of those two to the personality of Lance.

Pidge was a smaller girl who had technopathic abilities and was the definition of a true nerd. Half of the words she said were not even in Keith’s vocabulary, and he didn’t want them to be. She seemed somewhat timid at first, but once Lance’s other friend mentioned a topic they were mutually interested in, she lit up like a Christmas tree and began rambling like a maniac. 

The second friend was a good mediator for Lance and Pidge, sharing the same enthusiasm when in conversations with others as Lance did, but also shared nerdy qualities similar to Pidge. He was an empath, and upon hearing that, Keith immediately went on the defense. 

“Woah wait, you can read people’s minds?” Keith asked, a mixture of wonder and hostility.

“Not necessarily,” Hunk explained. “More of I can tell what people are feeling and make them feel other emotions.”

The wonder that Keith had felt earlier vanished, quickly replaced by anger and defensiveness.

“Don’t get any ideas with me, my mind is off limits,” he said directly, making sure this was not a request but an order.

Hunk put his hands up in surrender and frowned, “Hey, I don’t mess with people’s minds without their consent, okay? I’m not looking for any tension between us here.”

Even though Keith couldn't even picture Hunk hurting so much as a fly, an uneasy feeling washed over him and left him on edge.

Keith’s apprehensiveness set in and remained steadfast for the entirety of the day. Their last class was scheduled to take a full two hours, and for some reason, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge radiated excitement as they walked down the shallow hallways towards the other end of the school.

“Keith, you’re gonna love this class. Your powers are fire, right? You’ll be awesome in the final exams, then!” Pidge’s animated voice cut over the crowd of students around them.

Lance laughed, “You should have seen what he did to a closet earlier tod- “ 

Keith felt flecks of warmth dotting his cheeks from Lance reflecting about how much trouble he had caused earlier that morning, and elbowed Lance in the side to promptly shut him up. Hunk tilted his head slightly upwards and rubbed his chin, struggling to remember the fire that had happened only a few hours ago.

“Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that,” Hunk said slowly, confusion setting in on his face.

“What do you mean, you forgot?” Lance asked, laughing once again.

“I don’t know…” Hunk trailed off, a look of pure concentration emerged as he attempted to draw the missing parts of his memory from the depths of his consciousness. 

 “I remember running through the halls after you darted off and I remember standing with a crowd of students and teachers outside the school right before the fire drill ended.”

Lance shrugged indifferently, “You probably just got stopped by a teacher and taken outside, I didn’t see you or anyone else after the fire ended.”

“Yeah probably,” Hunk agreed timidly, “Kinda strange that I don’t remember it all though. It’s just weirdly fuzzy.”

Keith coughed and pulled their attention away from the ongoing conversation, knowing how Shiro tried his best to hide the true extent and side effects of his abilities from the rest of the students. 

“So, what class are we going to again?” Keith asked, relieved when Hunk shook his head to clear his mind, the clouded look disappearing from his eyes.

“We’re going to gym!” Lance replied, beaming his signature pearly, white smile.

“Like the class where you run around and play stupid games with balls?”

“What? No, no no no. This is _way_ better.”

Keith got no further explanation than a smug smirk pulling at Lance’s lips. Keith couldn’t ask for more depth anyways, as they had arrived in the football stadium sized room at the edge of the school.

Keith’s jaw dropped in awe at the sheer immenseness of the gym. There was a flat, wooden floor in the center, approximately the size of a basketball court, packed with various dangerous-looking equipment. The rest of the gym was composed of large bleachers reaching up to the very top of the room; Keith estimated the size of the bleachers big enough to fit at least a few thousand people in total. 

“Woah,” Keith whispered under his breath, fully aware of Lance, Hunk, and Pidge waiting for Keith’s reaction. 

They all laughed collectively, a sound that appeared practiced and worn down yet still soothing, like the harmonies of a well-trained barbershop quartet.

Lance walked forward and beckoned Keith to follow, approaching a large crowd surrounding a tall woman in the center. The woman looked approximately the same age as Shiro, probably in her mid-twenties. Her long, silver, silken hair flowed down over her shoulders, not a single stray strand in sight. 

Her complexion was fierce and powerful, the light of knowledge and strength shining in her eyes. Keith saw some of the boys (and even some of the girls) basking in this light, never seeming to get enough, looking up at her with longing stares. They idolized her, and Keith could tell she knew this. It reflected in the way she carried herself, her posture perfect and her chin tilted slightly upwards, almost like a princess.

Lance followed suit of the other children, the same yearning stare setting on his face. Keith scoffed mockingly, a slight twinge of jealousy sparking through his body. What could he possibly be jealous of? He would never understand the mindlessness attitude that overcame other boys when they saw a pretty girl. He just didn’t get it. I mean, Keith knew why he didn’t get it… but still.

The woman in the center raised her clipboard from her side and propped it on her hip, blue pen in hand. She looked up, prepared to speak, and an immediate silence fell over the crowd.

“Mental abilities, proceed to your previously assigned rooms for training. You will be focusing solely on mental strength building this week,” the woman said, glancing down at the list on her clipboard.

Keith saw Hunk wave to Lance and Pidge, and followed a few other students as they broke off from the crowd and headed in a separate direction, Keith assumed to train. So, this gym class focused on each individual’s powers? Keith was impressed on how specifically tailored it appeared to be at first glance, not just clumping the masses into a general class but giving each person personalized advice to better their powers.

“Muscle and strength based abilities, you will be working weights today,” she continued. “Because of popular demand, we added another 10,000 pounds to the weights. If that is not enough, please inform me as soon as possible.”

“Man-made manipulation abilities, you all will be in the construction room. I expect great things this semester. The robot built last semester saved the mayor from a building collapse only a few weeks ago, I’m very proud of you all!” The woman beamed, looking primarily in Pidge’s direction.

Pidge began following only a few other students as they walked away from the group, but she stopped to elbow Keith in the side.

“I built that robot in thirty minutes,” Pidge whispered, a small giggle escaping when doing so. Keith laughed and gave Pidge an impressed nod as she grinned and turned away to head to the construction room.

“Elemental abilities, you will be doing strength and accuracy training in the special skills section.” The teacher sighed as her lips curled downwards, “And this time, please try not to shatter our targets. It’s called ‘training’, not ‘destroying’.”

“It’s not _my_ fault the targets are thin and flimsy… and easy shatterable,” Lance muttered irritably, half to Keith and half to himself. Keith raised his eyebrows and glanced at Lance, deciding not to push any further.

Keith followed Lance and quite a few other students to a smaller isolated section to the left of the gym, composed of different machines varying from regular weights to large contraptions with cylindrical tubes stretching up the sides.

Keith was hoping Lance would take him to one of the targets to practice accuracy, but of course Lance brought him to the intricate machine that Keith had noticed earlier. Lance giddily sat down in the black, leathery chair positioned in the center. He reached over to an electronic keypad attached to the side of the chair and selected an option that read “water/ice”. Lance looked at Keith out of the corner of his eye and smirked, cracking his knuckles and stretching his neck dramatically, making sure Keith was watching the feat about to unfold.

Lance placed each of his hands on a thick handlebar over top of two large openings, and waited for a green light to flash, indicating he was able to proceed. Lance inhaled deeply and grasped the handle bars even tighter, his knuckles turning white. He scrunched his eyes in concentration and ice suddenly began to fill the cylindrical tubes off to the sides of the machine.

As the ice grew, glowing red wires lit up throughout the entire tube, melting the ice almost as fast as it grew. Keith stared in shock as Lance raced the machine, attempting to raise the ice level before the wires melted it away.

After a few minutes of man versus machine, Lance let go of the bars and let his arms fall into his lap. The wires immediately stopped glowing and the machine flashed a soft yellow. The panel Lance accessed earlier also flashed yellow, and Lance excitingly scurried over to see his results. 

“All right!” Lance cheered, pumping his fists in the air. “4,821 gallons! New record!”

Keith’s eyes widened in shock and ran both of his hands through his hair, lacing them together at the back and setting them on his head. Lance peeled his attention from the monitor and saw Keith staring in awe.

Lance threw his head back and released a hearty, wholesome laugh that rang throughout the gym. Keith stuttered and faltered, still too shocked to form coherent sentences, unsure if it was from the sheer amount of ice created or the way Lance's chocolate brown hair framed his face when leaned backwards in laughter. _No,_ it was _definitely_ the ice. 

“Did you… Did you make almost five THOUSAND gallons of ice?” Keith demanded, astonishment as evident as ever in his voice. Lance stepped forward and huffed deeply, wiping the sweat off his brow, even though Keith didn’t see any sweat and Lance didn’t even seem that exhausted.

“Wow, I guess so. My record last semester was three thousand and forty. I guess I felt really good today,” Lance blinked and tilted his head to the side, biting his bottom lip and looking at Keith in a seemingly provocative way, for lack of better words. 

“Or maybe because I really wanted to impress you.”

Keith choked on his own saliva and felt the top half of his face burn a deep crimson red, hoping Lance didn’t notice it behind all the hair that covered Keith’s face. Lance smiled and playfully punched Keith’s shoulder, implying that he was only joking.

Keith almost fell over, his legs forgetting the many years of use and reverting back to the strength found in their pre-toddler days. Lance stood next to Keith’s mess of a composure and turned to face the machine.

“You ready to give it a go?” Lance asked. Nerves snapped Keith back into focus like a rubber band, shallow breaths and widened eyes showing the fear Keith most definitely felt.

“Oh, I uh, I don’t think I should- I’m not sure if- I mean I’ve never done something like this before and-” Keith stumbled over his own words before Lance cut him off. 

“Hey, there’s no pressure. The first time I did it I could barely even make ten gallons without worrying that something was going to go wrong. This is the toughest machine here. It can handle whatever you throw at it,” Lance promised, his voice as reassuring and welcoming as the sun after a storm.  “You do have to take your gloves off, though, it won’t work with them on.”

Keith slowly spread his hands wide and looked down, hesitantly tugging the leather gloves off. He wiggled his bare hands afterwards, feeling weirdly naked without his gloves’ constant coverage anymore.

Lance gave Keith a double thumbs up and an ear-to-ear grin. “You got this!” he encouraged.

Keith turned his head towards Lance and scrunched his eyebrows, confused on how Lance could put so much trust into someone he had just met. Lance gave Keith a teasing shove in the direction of the machine, initiating the movement Keith needed to build up the courage to attempt the contraption.

Keith sat down and reached over to the panel, selecting the “fire” option that glowed on the screen next to “wind” and “earth”. 

Keith waited for the green flash to tell him he could proceed. When it did, he swallowed against his dry throat and placed his now clammy hands on the bars.

Keith closed his eyes and counted the passing seconds to try to calm his heart rate that had now begun to beat so fast he could feel it in his toes. Finally, after what seemed like years of forcing his emotions under control, he felt the fire emerge from his palms.

His powers washed over him like a hot shower, feeling it all across his body even though only his hands actually expelled the flames. Keith tightened his fists so strongly on the handles, he was surprised when they didn’t break under his grasp.

After an uncertain amount of time, Keith felt his powers sap away the last bit of energy left in his body, his hands releasing their unbreakable grip. Keith gasped as his body struggled to get an adequate amount of oxygen, his arms and legs shaking from the toil of the creation of his fire. 

Lance hurried over and looked at the monitor on the side before Keith was able to, curiosity getting the better of him.

“1,039 degrees Celsius?? That’s like,” Lance paused, mentally calculating a different unit of measurement. “That’s almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit! That’s so awesome!”

Lance’s face shone pure excitement as he turned to Keith in the chair. He held out his hand to help Keith up, making sure to activate his powers before doing so in order to insure his hand would stay burn-free. When Keith accepted Lance’s hand, Lance suddenly jumped back in pain, as if he touched an open electrical socket.

Keith watched in horror as Lance rapidly shook his exposed hand back in forth, the telltale sign of a burn. Keith ignored the pain in his limbs and hastily stood up, guilt manifesting in his gut. 

Lance saw Keith’s attempts to approach him and quickly covered his whole hand once again in ice, this time thicker than before, so Keith couldn’t see the extend of the damage he caused.

“Lance oh my god… I am so so sorry- I didn’t realize, I totally forgot… I didn’t think my hand would be that hot- oh my god,” Keith muttered frantically, imminent tears burning his throat. In one day, he had managed to set a room on fire, almost cry twice (and he _never_ cried), and now he burned away his best chance at having a friend. Keith could not _believe_ how terribly he messed up this time.

At the sudden commotion, the teacher walked over and approached Lance and Keith. She looked over Lance’s frozen hand and Keith’s terrified expression. She sighed and rolled her eyes, turning her attention to Lance.

“Let’s see it,” she insisted, pointing lazily to Lance’s still ice-encased hand

“Professor Allura, it’s fine, I promise. It was just a slight-”

“Now,” she demanded, the previous commander aura returning in her tone.

Lance sheepishly let the ice disappear from his hand, the angry red burns peeking out from beneath, showing their true colors like bright flowers emerging after a melted winter snow.

Keith sucked in a harsh breath, examining the true extent of the pain he caused. Lance’s hand had already started to create welts on the worst parts of the burn, the rest of shining from how raw it had become.

Allura reached forward and placed Lance’s hurt hand between both of her own, Lance emitting a grunt of pain when her hands met his. A soft blue light began to shine from the crevices between Allura and Lance’s fingers, basking both of them in a faint glow. Lance’s pained expressions began to fade after a few seconds, and only a few more seconds after that, Allura released his hand and took a step backwards.

Lance glanced at his hand, now free from any hints of burns, as if the accident never happened. He smiled weakly at Allura, the normal playful glint now gone in his eyes.

“Thank you, Professor,” Lance said somewhat shamefully.

Allura turned to Keith and prepared to lecture him on proper safety etiquette in the gym when she saw the smoke rising from behind him. She leaned sideways and saw the handle bars of the machine smoking, liquefied metal dripping from the now disfigured bars. 

A five-fingered handprint had melted into the metal where Keith had gripped the machine. She sighed once again, making a mental note to write this in her ever-growing list of repairs that needed to be made to the gym.

“Look, Keith, I know you’re new. Mr. Shirogane told me about your… instability… with your powers, but I want you to think before you act next time, okay?”

Keith nodded obediently, the scolding from Allura seeming as close to that of a mother’s as she could get. Keith was almost surprised she didn’t add ‘I’m not angry, just disappointed’ at the end of her speech.

Allura walked off and refused to give Lance or Keith a second glance, knowing very well that she had other just as pressing matters to attend to. Keith fumbled in his pockets and warily pulled out his fireproof gloves, putting them on as soon as possible as to prevent any more possible incidents.

As soon as Keith successfully got both of his gloves on, smoke arose from his covered palms. He cursed under his breath and tried to get his powers under control, but before he could react, the gloves started to melt. Keith frantically ripped the gloves off his hands and stared at them in bewilderment. 

Keith had _never_ burned his gloves. Shiro, as a registered hero, had access to hero clothes manufactures and ordered these fireproof gloves specifically for Keith. They were the highest quality of any fireproof material ever, and no matter the years and years of persistent wear and tear, they never melted.

Lance saw the shameful and hurt look in Keith’s eyes and reached forward to grab the smoldering gloves from his hands. Keith flinched from the sudden movement and pulled backwards, refusing to let Lance come anywhere near him. 

Lance smiled sympathetically and covered his hands in the thickest ice Keith had seen Lance use on his body, reaching forward once again. Although Lance had meant to grab the gloves to stop their burning, when Lance and Keith’s hands made contact, the smoking from Keith’s hand instantaneously stopped.

Keith stared in confusion at the sudden change in events, and Lance did as well. Lance reached forward and grabbed Keith’s whole hand, despite Keith’s attempt at wriggling free. Keith gasped as the burning sensation in his hands stopped the second Lance touched them.

 Lance could feel the difference in temperature, and pulled away as to test the hypothesis that was forming in the depths of his mind. When Lance pulled away, Keith’s hand began smoking almost the same amount of before. Keith watched Lance place his hand on Keith’s, again and again, until Lance suddenly grabbed Keith’s hand firmly and interlaced their fingers.

Keith stared wildly at Lance, hoping he would explain why he was holding Keith without explanation. 

Lance met Keith’s confused glare with his own optimistic gleam.

“Don’t you see?” Lance asked, “My ice powers somehow suppress- or at least limit- your fire powers. I just have to hold your hand until you calm down and stop burning everything you touch!”

Wait, what? Oh no, Keith could not have Lance holding on to him for god knows how long. Keith tried to pull away, this time more forcefully than before, but Lance’s grip only tightened.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! Like a buddy system, just to an extreme! We have the same classes anyway, so it’s not like any of us are going out of our way.”

Keith wanted to argue against Lance’s proposal, but Keith was more terrified of burning more people than he was of holding Lance’s hand for a little while. To be honest, Keith was secretly hoping he would be able to hold Lance’s hand eventually, he just didn’t think it would happen like _this_.

Keith groaned but grudgingly nodded in agreement. Lance smiled and pulled him to the next equipment station.

“This is going to be so much fun!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading this chapter! let me know what you thought about it and your opinions for the future of this story! comments always make my day :) see ya next time!


	4. It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 4 is up! for all my non-american readers, GPA is discussed in this chapter and it basically means "grade point average", and AP classes mean "advanced placement" which is kinda like a higher level course that you would normally take in college but you take it in high school. if anything else is confusing, feel free to ask!

“Wait, you want me to fly?”

Keith stared uncomprehendingly at a wild-eyed Pidge. Her glasses reflected what Keith assumed to be the red flames of the devil, as the maniac inside Pidge finally showed its true colors, but Keith looked down and realized those flames were his own. Keith hastily closed his hands into a fist to conceal the sporadic flames appearing from unrelenting nerves.

The past few weeks have been something Keith could only describe as brutal and taxing. After school every single freaking day, Pidge, Hunk, and Lance would drag Keith to Lance’s house and train for hours on end, solely focusing on controlling Keith’s powers.

Keith, earlier that week, had finally been able to put out most of the small fires he had created. It took Lance and Keith over half of their training time doing one-on-one sessions, just so Keith could extinguish his own flames. 

Keith was… impatient, in the nicest term possible. After trial and error, and a lot of it, Lance realized Keith did not focus on his own fires and the way they flickered through the air. Keith tried to use brute force in order to shut his flames down, when in reality, Keith had to think of it as taming a beast.

A very powerful beast.

That has burned and maimed multiple people close to him. 

Never seeming to cease, ruining lives and destroying relationships. 

Thankfully, Lance was persistent, and refused to let Keith live in constant fear of one of his most unique and defining features. This fire was a beast, that was undeniable, but this beast was also a part of who he was. Lance reminded Keith of this before they started training every day and Keith did not take his words lightly. 

It was no easy task, but Keith learned to become one with his fire. _Okay, that sounded super lame, but it was true_. Keith could feel the entire burning mass of the flames, reaching outwards and upwards into the sky, attempting to spread to as many places possible. Keith however, would not let it. He moved the fire to the places only he wanted it to go, and when he was done, he would take a deep breath and condense the fire until it flickered out of existence.

This was no small feat in Keith’s book, yet he still knew he had a long way to go until he could control his fire with ease and bend it to immeasurable lengths, becoming the hero he always dreamt of being.

Keith was taking his training one step at a time, building his way up to more advanced techniques, not rushing the basics in order to insure success in the future.

So, when Pidge told him to fly, his mind went blank.

“It’ll be easy!” Pidge reassured, however she did so very _un_ reassuringly. Keith would have laughed if he didn’t know Pidge was being dead serious.

 _Flying!?_ Keith had only learned how to put out his own flames a few days ago. Since then, he has been working on directing them in short, small blasts at targets. Nothing he has ever done was even in the same caliber as flying.

“You have got to be kidding me. I can’t fly!” Keith argued.

“Sure you can! Use those gloves Hunk and I made you. It’ll redirect your fire to a small spot on your palm and the force should be enough to lift you in the air.”

Keith laughed nervously and took a step back before Pidge could tackle him to the ground and throw him off a roof in order to test her theory. Although that sounded a little extreme, after getting to know Pidge better, Keith definitely wouldn’t put it past her.

“No, no way. That’s crazy!” he yelled, attempting to salvage whatever chance he had left at not being flattened like a pancake after falling from possibly ridiculous heights.

“What’s crazy?” a voice said from behind him, prompting Keith to spin around and meet Lance face to face. Fine, it was probably more similar to shoulder to face, but Keith needed to boost his ego somehow, okay?

Lance had just walked out of his house and into his backyard, munching on a handful of animal shaped crackers, a careless half-smirk falling across his face. Keith turned away and back to the practically glowing with enthusiasm Pidge and he threw his hands up in the air.

“Pidge over here wants me to FLY!”

“Yeah, I mean, that could totally work,” Lance said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

“WHAT?”

Keith’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, looking back and forth between Lance and Pidge, both of them convinced that Keith had the ability to actually leave the ground and float in the freaking air.

“Last time I checked,” Keith started, “my powers are fire. Do I need to spell that out for you? F. I. R. E. Not flying! I’m going to get myself killed!”

Lance placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder in mock comfort, looking into Keith’s eyes and patting his shoulder a few times before letting go again. 

“At least you’ll go out with a bang, Keith. Death by flying fire,” he said, fake condolence dripping from his words.

“That’s not funny!” Keith whined, cracking his knuckles in discomfort.

“Oh, come on, Keith!” Pidge practically begged. “Your powers actually let you do cool stuff, unlike Lance. We tried this a long time ago with him but he just turns preexisting water molecules in the air into ice.” Pidge explained, receiving an irritated yet playful jab in the side by Lance’s elbow.

“Hey, cut it out Lance! It’s true! Anyways,” Pidge continued, “your fire is created by your own body, not quite sure how, genetics can be super weird, but somehow you don’t burn yourself from the inside out. My best guess is some type of fermentation in your body that produces methane instead of lactate? At least partially because you still get sore like everyone else so I guess lactate isn’t completely replaced but-”

“Pidge, you’re rambling,” Lance cut in before throwing a few more crackers in his mouth.

Pidge blinked a few times and refocused herself on the task at hand. “Right, so, when you expel fire, it pushes the nitrogen, oxygen, and basically any other gas in the air out of the way, creating a small force. When the fire goes out, the gas you moved just fills the space back up. If you concentrate your fire in a powerful enough blast, it should create enough force to physically lift you off the ground.”

Pidge took a deep breath and smiled at Keith confidently. Keith did not meet her with the same optimistic expression.

“Oh come on, Keith. Just give it a try. Worst thing that happens is nothing happens,” Lance told him. Keith opened his mouth to retort, but hesitated and closed his mouth again. Lance was right, well, almost. Worst thing that could happen was Keith focused so much on trying to fly that his fire goes out of control, burning his friends. 

Lance seemed to read his mind and his face softened, not in pity, but in sympathy, almost as if he understood how Keith felt. “Hey, if it helps, I’ll have Pidge and Hunk stand behind me so I can stop the fire if it gets too close to us.”

Hunk yelled from the garage, apparently listening in on their conversation, “Yeah! Do it Keith, I’d trust Lance with my life!”

Keith winced and Lance turned over his shoulder and beamed at Hunk. “Well, hopefully life isn’t even hanging in the balance here,” Keith said apprehensively.

Lance wiggled his fingers as shaved ice sprinkled from their tips, “Do not fear, my man, Lancey Lance over here has got you covered.” He winked as his ice swirled in a miniature tornado above his palm before exploding into flakes of snow.

Keith huffed and blew a strand of hair out of his face. “If anything goes wrong, I’m blaming you,” Keith said, jabbing Lance in the chest.

Lance feigned hurt and clutched his chest where Keith touched.

“I am honestly insulted you think I cannot control some amateur’s fire!”

“You couldn’t control it when I burnt your hand!” Keith practically yelled. 

Lance’s smile vanished from his face, replaced by a look of… was that shame? Why did Lance think it was his fault?

Keith suddenly remembered Lance placing the blame on himself after Keith burned down the closet. Calling Lance out for not making enough ice to prevent himself from burning his hand after the gym incident probably didn’t help lessen the guilt Lance felt.

Keith stuttered and stepped forward, words not quite forming on his tongue when he attempted to apologize for the brashness of his actions.

Lance saw his pathetic efforts and cut Keith off with a wave of his hand. “You’re right. I wasn’t prepared, but now I am. No fire is even coming within five feet of Pidge, Hunk, or me. That I am sure of,” Lance promised.

Lance looked at Keith and Keith had no idea how to respond. He looked at his feet and found examining the soles of his shoes quite interesting until someone decided to break the awkward silence. Surprisingly, it was not Lance, but Hunk, who broke it after walking forward and joining the half-formed triangle in the middle of the yard. 

“So, is Keith going to fly or not?” Hunk asked, cutting into the thick tension in the air like a hot knife in butter. 

“Yes!” Pidge and Lance both said, overpowering Keith’s “no!”.

Keith rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders forward, accepting defeat as he walked away from his friends and to the center of the field.

“This is the last time you guys are going to make me risk my life just to indulge Pidge’s crazy theories!” Keith yelled as he turned around, arms spread wide as if he dared confrontation. Pidge gave him a double thumbs up and jumped up and down. Keith was afraid she was going to implode from excitement.

Keith pulled the new and improved fireproof gloves from his pocket and put them on. They were black leather, the same design as his old ones, except these had a dark mesh circle over the palm. You couldn’t see it, but the fit of the gloves on Keith’s hand was tight, slightly more so than his previous pair. This was to prevent the fire from escaping out of anywhere besides the mesh opening. Small groves on the inside of the glove redirected the fire to the opening, so no matter where the fire was expelled from, it would always end up in the same spot.

Keith had tried these gloves only a few times before, but they had worked perfectly every time. Not like that was unexpected, the gloves _were_ an invention of Hunk and Pidge. Keith had really underestimated the true extent of their knowledge, especially Pidge, who could calculate complicated formulas in her head all the way down to multiple decimal points. Hunk was more of a creator and had many brilliant ideas, however almost just as mathematically smart as Pidge.

Lance had stepped back from the gloves project and let Hunk and Pidge take it away, adding helpful comments every now and then, but also realizing when he could not contribute, thus proceeding to stay out of their way. Keith approached Lance when he realized Lance did not fully understand everything Pidge and Hunk did, despite him being second in the class.

“Yeah well, Hunk isn’t first in the class because he had this episode when someone in our school died last year in a villain attack. She was in a store and it got robbed so she tried to stop it, but…” Lance trailed off, a sad look clouding his eyes. 

After a minute or so, Keith coughed lightly and jolted Lance back to reality. Lance continued like nothing had happened. “The whole school was pretty shaken, and all that overwhelming emotion just flooded Hunk’s head. Poor guy. He tried to shut it out but it was just too much. He got so sick from it and missed a full two months of school.”

Keith shifted uncomfortably, unsure of how to portray his condolences.

“Those two months gone totally tanked his GPA. He didn’t tell any of his teachers about why he missed because he hates people thinking he just reads their mind on the fly, you know? So they gave him an unexcused absence for the whole two months. He does his homework and does well on tests, but it’s hard to recover from something like that,” Lance finished, staring at the wall behind Keith.

“So…” Keith began, “What about Pidge?”

Lance laughed, “Oh man, Pidge is a whole other story. She skipped two grades because she was _too_ good. Her GPA was through the roof and she outsmarted every teacher she ever had. The only professor I’ve seen show more intellect than her is Professor Slav, and even that is questionable at times. But once Pidge got into Sky High, she realized how the whole school system is total BS and now she doesn’t do any of her assignments.”

Lance smiled, leaning back and placing his left shoulder on the wall, although still facing Keith. “She still aces all her tests, obviously, but you can’t get a 4.8 without doing your homework.”

“Wait, you have a 4.8?” Keith asked, the number seeming ludicrous at any possible school, much less the ‘prestigious’ Sky High.

“Ah well, it’s a 4.79 if I’m honest, the dude in first has a 4.81. I’m hoping to beat him out before senior year so I can apply to college as valedictorian,” Lance said indifferently, as if a 4.8 GPA was no big deal.

“That’s insane! You must have taken like, all AP classes since you started high school!”

“I was actually homeschooled for the last two years of middle school and the first year of high school, but I took online AP classes so I guess I took advanced classes before I even got into high school. Kinda gives me an advantage but hey, I’ll take it.”

Keith blinked, trying to imagine Lance as a homeschooler. Lance, the popular, powerful playboy who practically had girls swooning over him at every corner. You don’t just casually come into high school as a sophomore and rise to the position of one of the most well-known people in the entire school in little over one year.

Even now, as Keith stood in the center of Lance’s abnormally large backyard, he wondered what type of a person Lance McClain really was.

“You ready?” Pidge yelled as Lance stepped in front of her and Hunk, ice slowly inching its way out from under Lance’s shoe.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he grumbled, not loud enough for them to hear.

Keith focused on his hands and his fire, suddenly aware of every particle of air surrounding him, just as Lance taught him. He felt the warmth of his power flow through his veins, igniting every cell in his body. He focused this heat to his hands and down to his palms, willing his flames to escape in a concentrated blast. All at once, fire came pouring out of his hands, lighting the grass on fire and surrounding him completely, pushing the air molecules around him further away.

Using his powers reminded Keith of a game Shiro would play with Keith when they were younger. There were marbles stacked upon multiple interlacing rods in a cylindrical tube. One by one, Shiro and Keith would take turns pulling out these thin, plastic rods until all at once, the marbles had no more support and all came crashing down. In the game, they had no control over who pulled the final rod to let loose the flow of marbles. It was left completely to chance.

Keith’s powers were slightly different; he could lower the effect of the cascade with his powers when he really wanted to, but it was still all at once and very overwhelming, and still pretty much up to chance.

Luckily (or not), Keith didn’t worry about having to be careful. Keith ripped out as many plastic rods holding his powers back as possible, and let the full force of his powers crash like a waterfall, unrelenting power cascading out in a constant blast.

Keith opened his forcefully scrunched eyes to check on his friends, making sure they were unscathed by the fire. Only a few licks of flames had reached Lance, and he easily put them out with small streams of ice.

 _Good_ , Keith thought, _they can handle themselves, and I can focus on this stupid flying thing_.

Focusing on ‘this stupid flying thing’ was easier said than done, as Keith only felt the heels of his feet lift some of his pressure off the ground. Keith was still very much _not_ in the air. Keith focused harder, although already feeling the toll of his powers taking effect.

He thought of all the times he had let his past friends and family down. He thought of how he was powerless to watch them walk out of his life. He _hated_ feeling powerless, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to control what happened around him.

He wasn’t a useless kid anymore who turned away at the sight of a lit candle, or who wore head to toe clothing for years on end in fear of harming those who trusted him. If he couldn’t control who left and abandoned him throughout the years, at least let him control his own powers. Please, just let him have this.

Suddenly, the force of his flames magnified, and Keith felt his toes slowly lift off the ground. He floated upwards, struggling to maintain equilibrium between both hands so he would not go spiraling out of control. He watched as he rose into the sky, flames blazing below him and they pressed him higher and higher.

Keith laughed wildly, looking down at the shrunken Lance, Hunk, and Pidge who stared up at him in awe. If this was the joy Keith could bring to himself by using his powers, he could only imagine what he could bring to others in the future.

Looking down once again, Keith absentmindedly focused in on Lance’s face, and he saw his ocean-blue iris sparkle. No, they did more than sparkle. They shone like a spotlight finding the lead actor in a play, and in this case, Keith had the starring role. If Lance’s eyes weren’t blinding enough, his teeth must have done the trick. Keith was almost positive he could see the reflection of the fire twinkling in them from even this far away.

Oh that’s weird, the reflection seemed to be getting closer. So did the rest of his friends. And so did the ground. Oh… _shit_.

That’s when Keith realized he was falling.

Keith’s flames had gone out, leaving him powerless in the air, multiple feet above the ground. A fall from this height, he dimly realized through the fresh wave of panic that overtook him, would kill him or at least break a bunch of his bones.

Keith couldn’t hear his scream as it was ripped away from his mouth by the wind surrounding him, and he plummeted to the ground. Keith desperately tried to get his powers to start working again, but falling through the sky to your impending doom was not the best situation to practice focus and control in. A small flicker of flame shot desperately from his hand but was lost to the rushing wind as quickly as it was produced.

Keith closed his eyes and waited for the impact, hugging his arms around his head in hopes of limiting any brain damage, assuming he survived the fall. Suddenly, the wind stopped roaring in his ears and Keith felt cold leach through his clothing.

Keith opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. Lance stood above him with his hands still raised in the air, ice frosted over his fingertips. Keith looked down and behind him, and realized Lance had created a giant ice slide to safely deposit Keith on the ground.

Keith was too dazed to thank Lance or to comprehend just exactly what happened, before Pidge piped up from behind Lance’s back.

“That was awesome!” she screamed, her glasses sliding down her nose and her hair bobbing up and down as she shook with exhilaration. “Maybe next time we can see how long it takes to get into the air or- or, how high Keith can go before slowing down, or the altitude at which his powers work best because of the change in atmosphere, or…” Pidge mumbled off, searching for something to write her observations on before the heat of the moment faded away.

Lance smiled down at Keith and Keith very suddenly felt embarrassed at his ungraceful descent.

“Don’t worry,” Lance said, helping Keith off the ground and giving him an encouraging pat on the back, “we’ll work on it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a bird, it's a plane, it's keith ! woah he can fly, that's so cool. pretty sure he'll have to work on that a little more though before he skydives off cliffs or anything. i hope you enjoyed this chapter! feel free to leave comments and kudos, they always make my day !!


	5. The Sky’s Single Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ducks and backstories! what's better than that?

Keith accepted Lance’s outstretched hand and shakily stood up. Small slivers of steam arose from his body and disappeared into the air, swirling away into the sky.

“Don’t worry,” Lance said, patting Keith on the back in what Keith assumed to be some sort of comforting act. “We’ll work on it.”

Keith stepped out of Lance’s half-embrace and turned away. “Look, Lance,” he started, opting to look at his fidgeting hands rather than Lance’s face. “It’s really nice of you to help me out with my powers, but now that I can control the basics, I don’t think I need any more help.”

Lance hummed softly and ran his hands through his hair. Keith looked up and saw Lance bite the corner of his lip in thought, his eyes slightly glazed over. After Lance didn’t respond, Keith feared he had insulted Lance or made it seem as if Lance was not truly helping him gain more confidence, which was definitely not true.

“I-I mean not just your help, Hunk and Pidge’s help too. I just think I can get a feel for the rest of my powers on my own, you know? It’ll probably be better anyways, Shiro can watch to make sure nothing goes wrong and he can-“

“You’re afraid to hurt one of us, aren’t you?” Lance interrupted, staring dead into Keith’s eyes. Keith stammered, unsure of how to respond to Lance calling him out on the very thing Keith was trying to hide. 

Lance scoffed slightly, but not in a mocking way. It was some sort of mixture between pity and understanding, and Keith didn’t know which emotion was more confusing to him.

“Let’s take a walk,” Lance said, motioning Keith to follow him on a path that led away from Lance’s house. Pidge and Hunk had disappeared into the garage to discuss god knows what about Keith’s flying powers, so they were nowhere to be seen. Keith didn’t really want to leave them alone without knowing where Lance and Keith had gone off too, as they may fear the worst.

“Oh come on,” Lance urged, noticing Keith’s apprehensiveness. “I wander off all the time, Pidge and Hunk know where we’re going.”

“Uh, about that, where exactly  _are_  we going?”

“That, my friend, is a surprise.”

A shiver raced down Keith’s spine, causing goosebumps to emerge on his whole body, despite the smoke still evaporating off his skin. It may have been an offhand comment, but Lance still casually mentioned Keith as his friend. Keith had only known Lance for a few weeks, and although Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were the closest he’s come to having friends in a long time, he was still slightly guilty when they treated him as an equal. Keith didn’t  _deserve_  to be treated as an equal. If they had known everything about Keith and what he had done, they wouldn’t treat him the way they did now.

It was all an illusion. The friendship, the jokes, the time they spent together. None of it would truly matter once they found out who Keith was. Keith had to remember that. He couldn’t grow attached, or learn to call these people his friends. He had to shut them out and turn away like he’d done so many times before. At least Keith had a lot of practice shutting people out; over the years it has grown to become as easy as breathing. 

“Hey Keith, this is totally random but I promise it will be relevant in a few minutes. Do you happen to have any crackers with you in your pocke- oh crap!” Lance started to ask, before turning and realizing the earlier steam coming off Keith’s skin had turned to billowing smoke, arising mostly from where his feet connected with the pavement.

The sidewalk under Keith’s feet was melting slightly on every step, footprints from Keith’s sole imbedding themselves into the softened sidewalk in every place his feet had previously been. 

“Awh Keith, you’re destroying the sidewalk!” Lance complained, his shoulders shaking as he bent forward. Terror tore through Keith’s body as he saw Lance’s hunched figure.  _Was Lance crying?_

“Shit Lance, I’m sorry, I zoned out and didn’t realize-" 

Lance straightened slightly and placed his hands over his stomach, clutching the fabric of his shirt that loosely hung on his torso. His previously contained laughter cut through the air as he threw his head backwards. Keith groaned when he realized the source of the shaking was actually laughter and amusement. 

“Cut it out, Lance!” Keith grumbled, half-heartedly trying to stop the burning. Keith quickly realized his exhaustion from the use of his powers and the embarrassment of being the center of a joke prevented him from doing so. Before Keith could shut his eyes and try to stop the smoke once again, he felt a cool hand squeeze around his own.

Keith looked up and met a grinning Lance.  _Geez, when did this guy ever not smile or laugh?_  Constantly being around someone who could make a joke out of anything or find any situation to laugh was kind of exhausting.

“We don’t want any more burning, do we?” Lance joked, pulling Keith along the path to a small opening ahead.

“Shouldn’t we, uh, head back?” Keith asked, not wanting the fire to go out of control again and burn down the trees framing the sidewalk.

“No way, we’re almost here,” Lance tugged urgently at Keith’s slightly smaller hand, “look.”

As they walked through the opening in the forest, warm light shone down from above and a cool breeze blew against Keith’s cheeks. His hair rippled to the side and lightly floated around his temples, tickling his ears and leaving his forehead bare and uncovered.

Keith looked at Lance surveying their new destination and realized Lance’s hair had done the same. The golden light from above reflected off his face, framing half of it in an angel-like aura and defining the strength of his already pre-existing jawline. Faint freckles peaked out from behind sun-darkened skin, a fleck of difference on an otherwise flawless and single-toned surface. His hair, even darker so than his skin, billowed around his head, blowing back and forth before settling into a slight ruffle.

“-eith? Keith?”

Keith jerked himself back to reality, Lance holding both his hands and giving Keith a concerned look, before Keith pulled away and reminded himself to remain detached. Even if Lance was naturally gorgeous, Keith couldn’t let himself get lost in his calm, ocean blue eyes and the upward curve of his jaw once it neared his ears-  _ugh stop!_

Keith turned away and immediately started smoking again. He ignored Lance’s hand reaching out to hold his own and headed towards the small pond near the end of the clearing. Keith went off the path and crossed through the dewy grass, leaving trails of smoke behind him with every step.

“Keith, wait!” Lance shouted from behind him, unable to catch up while preoccupied with covering over the burning grass in order to prevent a forest fire. Keith, in fact, did not wait, as he trudged on further, his pace quickening. Keith was not sure exactly why he wanted to get away from Lance, but the thought of him getting too close or too attached to someone he has grown to care about was more terrifying than his chances of burning down this forest.

Keith had almost reached the pond when he felt Lance clutch his shoulder as he crashed against Keith. Keith spun around and saw Lance topple over and fall straight into Keith’s chest, sending both of them sprawling to the ground.

Keith’s back was pinned to the damp grass, while Lance’s weight rested on Keith’s chest. Keith looked up and met Lance’s face, and Lance looked directly back at him. Neither boy reacted at first, both of them transfixed by the eyes of the other.

_Were Lance’s eyes always this blue?_

_Is that the light or are Keith’s eyes flecked with purple?_  

Keith was content with staying like this, laying in the soft grass while lost in a sea of blue twinkling in front of his face. His dreamscape was wrecked when Lance coughed awkwardly and pressed himself off of Keith. The weight lifted off his chest should have felt better, but Keith felt exposed and vulnerable; the opposite of the comforting pressure he felt moments ago.

Keith blinked and put his hands behind his hips, pushing himself into an upright sitting position, when he saw the reason for Lance crashing into Keith. Lance had made another ice slide down the slight decline towards the pond, right over the smoking path Keith had created from his angry trek through the grass. Keith could see what Lance was attempting, trying to both cover up the burning grass and get closer to Keith at the same time, but Keith assumed Lance overshot it and went hurtling into Keith.

Keith forced himself off the ground and saw Lance standing to the side, his hand rubbing the back of his neck in shame.

“Sorry about that, I probably should have figured out a better way to slow down before surfing that slide,” Lance laughed, the tips of his ears turning red from embarrassment.

A smile tugged at the corners of Keith’s lips. “Hey it’s okay. I can learn how to fly and you can learn how to make better slides.” 

“Keith, buddy, why must you mock me like this,” Lance groaned, but not before a smile emerged on his face, matching Keith’s.

Lance and Keith looked at each other for only a short moment before both of them burst into laughter. They laughed and laughed until they both were clutching their stomachs and tears were pooling in their eyes. If one of them started to calm down, one look at the other would reignite the roars of laughter. Eventually, they both settled down, wiping their eyes and pressing their hands against their aching abs.

“That wasn’t even funny,” Lance chuckled, wiping a stray tear that had managed to escape his eyes and fall down his cheek.

“You’re right,” Keith agreed. “But it’s been a long day. That test this morning in Professor Slav’s class? Pretty sure I failed.” 

“Oh yeah, definitely. Pidge turned in her test before I even finished the first page. I have no idea how she does it.”

“You said it yourself, she’s a child-genius.”

“Very true, very true.”

Lance and Keith stood in silence and both watched water at the edge of the pond lazily move back and forth, touching the wet dirt at its edges. Staring at the water finally reminded Lance of why he brought Keith here in the first place.

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Come with me, Keith,” Lance said as he grabbed Keith’s hand, even though it had already stopped smoking.

Lance pulled Keith along the circumference of the pond before they finally reached the other side. They approached a small, wooden bench, slightly deteriorating on the corners from the years of water damage. A vast tree hung over the bench, occasionally dropping small, soft pink petals every few seconds.

Lance sat down on one side of the bench and patted the space next to him, inviting Keith to join him. Keith reluctantly sat down, as the bench did not leave him a lot of room. His legs were so close to Lance’s that they were practically overlapping, despite Keith’s attempt at turning them slightly in the other direction. 

Lance peered into the pond, cocking his head in every possible direction, seemingly searching for something in the water.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, not knowing what Lance could possibly be looking for in such a small pond.

“Shh. Patience, young grasshopper. They’ll be out any second now,” Lance murmured.

Keith strained his eyes and tried to follow Lance’s line of sight. Keith saw nothing but small ripples of water from little bugs landing on and leaving the surface of the pond. Suddenly, Lance whisper-shouted in Keith’s ear. 

“Look! Here they come!” Lance pointed. Keith turned in the direction of Lance’s outstretched hand.

What he saw was surprisingly unexpected. He saw two ducklings, one was all yellow with small tufts of slightly darker brown peeking out. The other swam directly beside the first, this one browner than the last, but the characteristic baby yellow color was still prominent on its chest. 

“These two little guys have been here for a few weeks, I think, maybe longer,” Lance told Keith without taking his eyes of the pair of ducklings.

“The yellow one got caught in a thorn bush and ripped his wings. He can’t seem to fly yet…” Lance paused, “I’m no expert but I don’t think he ever will.”

Keith peered closer at the yellow duckling and examined his injured wing. Even though the feathers had not completely grown on top, he could tell the damage was beyond repair. Dried blood from the injury had tainted the feathers, leaving brown spots that had still not completely washed away. Scars were forming, bending the soft fluff of premature feathers in painfully awkward directions. 

“What’s the brown one doing, then?” Keith asked curiously.

“This little guy,” Lance said, reaching his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out a small handful of crackers he was snacking on earlier, throwing some crumbs to the ducks below. “I think he’s the yellow one’s brother. Their family flew away a few days ago but he wouldn’t leave because I guess he realized his buddy couldn’t fly.”

A pang of sympathy struck Keith in the chest. This situation was not unlike Shiro’s, who was stuck by his side even though Keith was an annoyance at best. Keith weighed Shiro down, never truly contributing to make Shiro’s life better. Without Keith, Shiro could be off saving the world or becoming a famous hero, but since Keith was dangerous and couldn’t control himself, Shiro was stuck on the ground, tending to Keith’s every flaw. 

“Pidge wanted to make him a little prosthetic wing somehow, but right now she’s working on a super-secret something for my class president campaign. Also, anything she makes now will just end up being too small in a week or so. We’d have to wait until he’s fully grown.”

“Will they be gone by then?” Keith asked. 

Lance answered slowly, sadness creeping into his tone, “the yellow one, probably not. The brown one? I’m not sure. He might get lonely or bored and fly away to find a bigger flock.”

“Oh…” 

“Yeah…”

Silence creeped in and endured as present as ever. The only sounds Keith and Lance heard were the small splashes of water from the ducklings trying to eat the few remaining bits of cracker floating on the surface. 

Lance, like always, was the one to shatter the silence. “Do you want to feed them?”

Keith smiled and accepted the tiny bag of animal crackers Lance had pulled out of his other pocket. 

“Yeah, sure. Do you just happen to have bags of snacks on you at all times?” he joked mockingly.

Lance brought his hands up to his temples and wiggled his fingers beside them.

“You thought I had ice powers? Think again, hot stuff. I’m actually…” Lance paused for dramatic effect. “A  _psychic_.”

Keith laughed, the ache in his abs from earlier returning with every puff of air. “Sure, sure. And I’m going to one day be able to teleport to China and back with a snap of my fingers.” Keith reached over and snapped repeatedly with both hands in front of Lance’s nose.

Lance huffed, “Hey, you never know. And fine, you caught me. I’m a growing boy, I need to be prepared with excess food at all times.”

“Yeah, growing all right,” Keith mumbled under his breath, but still loud enough so Lance could hear. “Growing more and more annoying with every passing second.” 

“Hey! You know you love it,” Lance fired back. 

The playful mood in the air suddenly went ice cold, stripping Keith of all the joy he was savoring. Keith  _did_  love it. He loved being able to joke around with someone who wasn’t scared of Keith’s powers, or who made every possible attempt to lighten the mood no matter the situation. It was all too good to be true, and Keith had to remember that. He  _needed_  to remember that.

Lance noticed Keith’s now sullen attitude and brought him back to attention.

“Hey, Keith.” Keith shook his head slightly and looked up at Lance.

“The real reason I brought you here is because I want to tell you a story,” Lance hesitated. “But not many people know this story and you have to promise not to tell anyone else or interrupt me when I’m saying it, okay?”

Keith nodded slowly before realizing he should probably give verbal conformation as this story seemed important to Lance. “Okay, I promise.”

“Alright!” Lance shouted, a little bit too loudly. Keith chalked it up to nerves, which made Keith himself even more anxious and scared to hear what Lance was about to say.

“So, it all started in preschool.”

Keith couldn’t help it, he let out a stifled groan. Lance stopped and stared at Keith through the corners of his eyes, a frown tugging his lips downwards.

“Sorry, sorry!” Keith quickly apologized, “It’s just… how old were you in preschool? Five?” 

“I  _was_  five, thank you very much. That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Now let me speak!” Lance grumbled, bringing his arm up and elbowing Keith in the bicep. 

Lance coughed dramatically into his hand and stretched his back out to sit up straight. “Now, like I was saying before I was  _rudely_  interrupted.”

Keith rolled his eyes but managed to stay silent this time. 

“It all started in preschool. I would wake up most mornings with my room definitely way colder than it had been the night before. Oh, and this happened during like, the late spring or early summer, so it was warm outside. Anyways, so as a little kid I had no idea why it was so cold in my room all the time and my mom tried to get my dad to fix my room it but he never figured it out.

“That didn’t really matter though, it was just a little cold in my room. I could handle that. But then one morning I woke up and there was literal ice hanging from the corners of the furniture in my room. Weird, right? My mom pretty much lost her mind. My parents moved me to a different room because the air conditioning in my room was  _obviously_  being weird. Then it happened again. I woke up and ice was everywhere.

“They took me to a special doctor or something, because everyone knows that sometimes people were born with powers and such, but nobody in my family has ever had powers so they were kinda freaking out. This doctor was totally like ‘your son is gonna be such a badass one day, congratulations!’.”

“Ugh, Lance,” Keith interjected. “Come on, man.”

Lance held his hands up in defense, “I can assure you that is exactly what this doctor said. I was practically a baby with a six-pack. I bet baby Lance could kick your  _ass_ , mullet head.” 

“Okay, sure. Very funn- hey! I don’t have a mullet!” Keith complained.

“Oh you totally do, it’s right there. I can see it with my own two eyes,” Lance pointed two fingers at his eyes and turned them around and pointed them at Keith’s hair. “But gosh Keith, I’m trying to tell a story here.”

“I wasn’t- ugh!” Keith pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes and took a deep breath. “Never mind. Continue your story.”

“Thank you! So badass baby me was, you know, a baby. I didn’t really understand what my parents meant when they said I had powers. Thankfully the worst thing I could do was make rooms a little colder, so there wasn’t a lot to worry about… yet.

“My brother, Javier, he’s three years older than me by the way, understood what having powers meant. I don’t know if he was jealous or scared or all of the above, but he kept sneaking into my room when my parents weren’t there and tried to get me to do something, or anything, with ice. This was when things started to go south. 

“One day he tried to get me to make ice or snow or something, I don’t really remember, but I do remember what happened. He was poking and prodding me and I started crying, and when he covered his hand over my mouth to get me to be quiet, I froze his hand. He screamed and cried and screamed some more, and my parents rushed in to the room. They took him to the emergency room and they tried to save his hand from frostbite or whatever, but his hand was cold all the way through. He didn’t lose his hand, but I damaged the microcirculation in his thinner blood vessels and some of his smaller nerves. Even now, he can’t feel or move his hand as well as he could before. This didn’t exactly boost my confidence when it came to using my powers.”

“But it wasn’t your fault!” Keith exclaimed. “He provoked you, and you were only a kid!”

“I know that now,” Lance sighed. “But it was kinda scarring as someone who looked up to his older brother and then suddenly injured him. Not really the best way to use your powers.” 

“So,” Lance swallowed and continued, “Javier didn’t mess with me anymore, but he also never talked to me. Whenever I came in the room, or my parents talked about me, he would leave. That happened for about a year before I went to school. We were in different grades and went to different schools, so we didn’t see each other that often anyways. This school year was when I met Hunk. He was in my class and we were instant best friends. I mean, all kids are instant best friends with other kids, but Hunk was different. He always knew when I wanted to play or when I was nervous, and he was always there. Also, he was so awesome at building Legos you don’t even  _understand_. I knew he was a genius from the moment we met. 

“We had a lot of fun together, but problems started arising during our nap time. I was having bad dreams about hurting someone else with my powers, and it would always scare me awake. Weirdly enough, whenever it scared me awake, Hunk would wake up at the same time. We made so much noise that we would wake the other kids up too, which would lead to grumpy children for the rest of the day. The teacher thought it would be best for everyone to move Hunk and me to a different room so we wouldn’t wake up anyone else.

“Hunk and I were moved to a smaller classroom some of us used for quiet reading time which was empty during nap time. We tried taking naps like normal but every single time, we would both wake up. Little kid Lance was getting weirded out by how Hunk would wake up the same time as me, so I eventually confronted him. He was really shy when he answered, but mumbled out something about how he could see or feel other’s people’s thoughts but he didn’t know how to stop doing it. He made me promise not to tell anyone because his parents didn’t want anyone to know he had powers, since other kids might feel awkward or scared.

“I asked him if he woke up because he felt my dreams, and he said he did. He said he knew about my powers and he said I shouldn’t be scared. I know he was just being his nice and kind self, but the way he said it make little Lance feel better about himself. Eventually we would just play with our powers during our nap time. We worked out a system where we would pretend to nap when the teacher came in to check on us, and we would play with our powers when she left. It was quite genius if I say so myself, she came in every five minutes so we just watched the clock and timed our pretend sleeping patterns.

“That year I actually learned how to use my powers. I made cubes of ice and eventually learned how to melt them. I could make small snowstorms on my hand, and then make them disappear. I grew a lot more confident with my powers, and Hunk did too. It was all going pretty well, and my confidence stayed that way for a couple years.

“One day my older brother had friends over and they didn’t know about my powers. My parents also made Javier keep my powers a secret, although it’s not like it was hard, since he pretended I didn’t exist and he ignored everything about me. He hung out with the… wrong crowd. These boys were ruthless, mean, and just plain cruel. They convinced Javier to play a prank on me. They hung a bucket of water above my door when I was in my room one afternoon, and they strung it up so when I opened the door, water would pour all over me.”

Lance paused, visibly straining to say the next part of his story. Keith saw tension in Lance’s clenched jaw, and Lance’s hands balled into fists at his side. Lance closed his eyes and focused on the rise and fall of his chest, expanding in rhythm to his heartbeat.

“When I walked out of my room and the water fell on me, I lost it. Ice shot out everywhere and froze half of my house. Thankfully Javier and his friends were not right outside my room when this happened, they were watching from a few rooms down from behind a slightly cracked open door. Nobody was on the side of the house I froze, but I can’t stop thinking about what could have happened if they-“

Lance shuttered and choked off, and Keith felt a burning in his chest, telling him to reach out and comfort Lance somehow. Keith was the very last person to turn to when needing comfort, but he felt an interesting compulsion to console his new friend. Keith awkwardly placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed softly. Lance sighed and slumped forwards, all the tension in his body draining out in one fluid motion.

“I didn’t use my powers for months. Not even a single time. I was terrified of what I could do and who I could hurt. You know the feeling when your powers are itching to be used but you suppress them with everything you have because you think that’s the only way to help yourself and others?” Lance asked, looking up at Keith. 

Keith swallowed painfully and nodded. That feeling was all too familiar. He lived in that feeling for years and years on end. After the… incident… he never wanted to even look at a flame for the rest of his life. Keith never really used his powers until Sky High, which was probably why everything came out all at once when he tried to use them. The powers he suppressed for so many years finally broke free.

“I thought so,” Lance said, leaning back against the bench once again. “I could see parts of myself in you when you used your powers. Especially when you were scared of burning Hunk, Pidge, and me. When Shiro told me you weren’t exactly an expert in controlling your flames, I knew I had an obligation to help you figure it all out.” 

Keith hummed uncomfortably, “You don’t have an obligation to do anything.”

“No, I do,” Lance disagreed. “I have an obligation to myself. I know what it’s like to be afraid of such an important part of yourself. Something that makes you special, or something you know you can use for either better or worse. You’re a good guy, Keith. I want you to know that. Sure, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I can tell you care about other people and you don’t want to see them in the line of fire, pun intended.”

“Lance!” Keith hissed hotly, which just made Lance laugh. 

“It’s called a joke, Kogane. Too soon?” he batted his lids with fake innocence. Keith just rolled his eyes.

“But I wasn’t joking when I said I would help,” Lance quieted, a determined tone peeking through soft reassurance. “I don’t want you to be afraid of your powers any more, especially since the guy best qualified to counteract them will be by your side almost every waking hour of the day. Helping you will help myself. I’m no therapist, but I have a feeling something good will come out of us looking out for each other. I can feel it." 

Keith bit the inside of his cheek and forced down the burning that arose in the back of his throat. Maybe Lance actually wouldn’t leave him like everyone else did. Maybe Lance would understand and help him instead of running away. It did seem too good to be true, but maybe out of everything evil in his life, he was finally given something pure.

A light to his darkness. 

A shining star in his blackened sky.

Ice to his fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is where it finally gets interesting! a new character will be introduced and I bet you can tell who it's gonna be by the tags (no it's not coran, I promise he'll come later!). it's safe to say this new character won't exactly be bffs with everyone else though, so stay tuned! thanks for reading!


	6. It all Happened so Fast

“Yo, Pidge!” Lance shouted from across the crowded hall. “Bring the robot over here!”

Keith knew today was not only necessary to the class president campaign, but it was also very important to Lance. After Lance spilled his past, in an act that seemed painful, as Lance reopened old and deep wounds, Keith tried his best to stay in his good graces. Lance took an impossible task upon himself to help Keith along with his powers, and Keith wanted to put as little pressure on Lance as possible by staying out of trouble.

So when Lance asked Keith to help promote his campaign, he was more than willing to lend a helping hand. Hand, singular, being the key word, as Lance was latched onto Keith’s other hand. It was slightly embarrassing for Keith, not because he didn’t enjoy the comfort provided from someone he was starting to care for, but he felt secondhand-embarrassment for the shame Lance was most likely feeling.

What would everyone think about Lance, the popular, friendly, smart Junior, running for class president, and yet still holding hands with a broody new kid who only seems to be good at lighting things on fire.

And what would Lance think about everyone thinking about Lance. And what would Lance think about Keith thinking about Lance thinking about everyone else thinking about him?

 _Ugh_ , Keith needed a break.

“Hey Lance,” Keith pulled Lance’s hand back to stop him from chasing after Pidge and her newly constructed robot, which was flying around, blasting music, and spewing streamers everywhere. Even as Keith brought Lance to a less crowded side of the hallway, he could hear the faint sounds of “if you like it then you should have put a ring on it” playing from the robot’s speakers.

“What’s up?” Lance asked, concern slowly seeping its way into his voice. “Oh shit, do you not like crowds or something? I totally should have asked first, I didn’t even think ab-”

“What, no, Lance that’s not it,” Keith cut in. “I just think it would be better for your campaign to not be holding onto me the whole time.” Lance blinked, confusion plastered on his face.

“What do you mean? My campaign is going well _because_ of you. When getting me to mentor you, Mr. Shirogane extended the campaign budget which allowed me to get the parts to the robot Pidge made. People are loving it!” Keith leaned his head to the side and saw a swarm of freshmen ogling in awe at the hovering robot doing loops in the air while throwing candy at other students passing by. Each candy had a “Vote McClain” sticker on it, with a picture of Lance’s face underneath the text, giving the recipient a double thumbs up and a beaming smile.

Keith laughed as one of the kids in the freshmen crowd was pelted in the forehead with a lollipop. “Okay, but still. I can stay back with Hunk and you can focus on getting people to vote for you,” he insisted, trying not to show how much Lance needed to do this without Keith.

“Oh you’re right! You haven’t met Shay yet, have you? She’s the best. Hunk’s with her now, he can introduce you.” Lance flailed his free arm around, obviously very excited for Keith to meet a new friend. “Uh, but, can you be on your own without holding my…” Lance’s smile fell from his face and he looked down at their intertwined fingers.

Keith pulled his hand away and held them in front of his chest, palms facing towards Lance. “See? I’m all good. No fire. Go get those votes, future Student Body President Lance McClain.”

Lance smiled thankfully and stared at Keith for an interestingly long amount of time. Lance’s eyes slowly became half-lidded and he leaned forward slightly before jerking back and blinking furiously. Keith didn’t notice before, but when he broke away from his self-induced trance, he realized his heart was beating wildly. Keith was really overthinking this whole Lance and Keith, hand in hand, friend thing. Keith coughed awkwardly.

“Thanks Keith,” Lance spluttered, giving Keith a pat on the shoulder. Keith nodded in response. Lance pulled away and started walking back toward Pidge and her robot.

“No seriously, Keith,” Lance stopped walking and turned once more to face Keith. “You really are a great friend.”

Keith’s heart dropped an unnecessarily far amount into his stomach, but he still managed a smile. “Thanks, Lance. You’re good, too.” Shit, _shit_! Keith immediately backtracked. “A, uh, friend, that is. You’re a good friend.”

Lance gave Keith an enthusiastic finger gun with his right hand, and before Keith knew it, he had disappeared into the crowd. Keith let go of the breath he didn’t know he was holding. _That was close_. Keith took a moment to compose himself before he walked in the other direction from Lance to find Hunk and Shay.

It didn’t take long, as Hunk isn’t exactly the type to blend in. He was always in deep conversation with a friend, and the room’s aura always seemed lighter and more welcoming when Hunk was around. Almost as if a happiness magnet was pulling Keith closer to the source of the feeling, Keith stumbled into Hunk and another girl laughing loudly down the hall. Hunk was standing next to the boy’s bathroom, hanging a “Vote Lance McClain for Student Body President” tapestry above the entrance.

Keith walked forward slowly, not wanting to interrupt Hunk and his friend, but ultimately failing when Hunk turned and caught Keith out of the corner of his eye.

“Keith!” Hunk did all but shout, as he ran forward and tackled Keith in a bear hug. Keith laughed into the hug, surprising both Hunk and himself when doing so. Keith didn’t mind hugs, but they didn’t necessarily bring him joy either. Keith guessed that Hunk really did bring out the best in everyone, just like Lance had always said he did.

Hunk finally let Keith out of the tight embrace, but the smile never fell from his face. “How’ve you been? Pidge and I haven’t seen you since last week when you- oh my gosh, Shay, I totally forgot to tell you!” Hunk exclaimed, turning around and motioning to the girl who was standing next to him earlier to come over.

“You know Keith, right?” Hunk asked Shay. “Ah, you guys have never met, have you? Keith this is Shay, Shay this is Keith.” Keith leaned forward and shook Shay’s hand, making sure to keep his powers under control when doing so.

“Lance is mentoring Keith with his powers. He’s Mr. Shirogane’s brother,” Hunk continued. “Keith is _so_ cool! On Friday he… get this… he flew!” Hunk beamed proudly.

“Wow, Keith that’s great!” Shay beamed. “Even after having trouble with your powers? You must be super talented. I couldn’t even lift a single rock with my powers until freshman year!” She laughed.

“Well, Hunk isn’t taking enough credit. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the cool gloves he and Pidge made me,” Keith said, a blush emerging on Hunk’s cheeks.

“Oh course he isn’t. He’s super modest like that. But that’s what I love about him,” Shay leaned forwards and lightly kissed Hunk on the cheek. Hunk only got redder.

“I’m going to go head to tutor a sophomore before class, I’ll see you there!” Shay said to Hunk. “It was nice to meet you, Keith. Good luck with your powers!” She waved and walked away towards the library.

“She’s the best, isn’t she,” Hunk mumbled, not really asking but rather stating.

“Ha, yeah,” Keith laughed awkwardly. Shay was nice but she wasn’t really… his type.

Hunk looked back at the banner he was in the middle of hanging up. “Now that you’re here, wanna help me hang up some signs?”

“Sure, I’m not sure what I can do though. Paper burns pretty easily with fire…”

“Dude, you’re fine. You’re so much more in control of your fire now. I think you’re really starting to get the hang of it. You’re pretty badass, you know.”

It was Keith’s turn to blush. Shiro would tell him he was badass sometimes when they were playing around, especially when Keith was younger, but having someone he’s only been friends with for a short while tell him this was different. He really wasn’t badass though, maybe he _could_ be, but definitely wasn’t, at least, not right now.

“Speaking of badass,” Keith questioned, suddenly remembering something he wanted to ask Hunk about Lance. “How long have you and Lance been friends? I remembered you saying you would trust Lance with your life even after you knew what he did with his ice when he was younger and…” Keith didn’t want to tell Hunk, but he wanted people to be able to trust Keith, no matter what he had done in the past. He wanted to know how long it would take for people to put their trust back in him.

Hunk laughed, “So I guess Lance took you to the pond and told you about his backstory, right?” Keith nodded.

“Did he tell you about his first month here at Sky High?” Hunk asked, and this time Keith shook his head. “Damn, Lance. He never talks about it, and I don’t know why. He really _was_ badass.”

“What did he do?”

Hunk sighed. “When Lance first got here, he didn’t talk to anyone. He didn’t use his powers even though I tried to convince him too. When he had his power placement, he didn’t do anything. Not even so much as make an ice cube! So they put him in the sidekick class, and I was in the hero class. We didn’t talk much, except for when we had lunch together, since, you know, heroes and sidekicks have different classes.

“He didn’t really have any friends, so nobody paid any attention to him. Later during the first month of school, some idiot villains attacked on a day Mr. Shirogane wasn’t here. Us in the heroes class were forced into a room and our homeroom teacher, Mr. Coran, was being held captive and they told us they would hurt him if we tried to escape or fight back.”

Keith’s mouth fell open in shock, “They attacked… a school? Full of kids?”

Hunk scoffed bitterly, a sound Keith had never heard come out of his mouth. “Well, yeah. We’re a school full of future superheroes. They tried to take out the competition before we got old enough to be real heroes. It almost worked, too. Until Lance. The sidekicks were left alone in their rooms, only being guarded by a few villains, since they thought sidekicks couldn’t cause any trouble. When the villains tried to wipe out the sidekicks so they could be done and go join the bigger group, Lance finally whipped out his powers. He froze the villains solid. Like, completely. When they melted there was nothing left.”

Keith shuttered, once again reminded how powerful Lance was when he used his powers to his full extent. It was hard to imagine Lance, who cared so much for his friends and family, could do so much damage when he wanted to.

“Anyway, Lance came in and stopped the villains all by himself. There were at least 20 of them. He said he only did it because he had the element of surprise, but we all knew better. Lance was a hero to the whole school, and they rightfully moved him out of the sidekick class. This is where his true personally, I dunno, shone through I guess. He was super happy after that and accepted his powers more.”

Keith wanted to talk but his throat felt too dry to form any coherent sentences. Did he have to save the whole school to finally feel accepted?

“Not, uh, not that you would have to save the school for people to like you, it was a one-time thing for Lance.” Hunk said quickly.

Keith’s blood suddenly ran cold. Hunk… had just read his mind, didn’t he? Keith didn’t want anyone doing that. He _specifically_ told Hunk not to do that. What else had Hunk seen? Why did he do that? Keith couldn’t believe he had just been so openly talking to someone who could _read fucking minds_. No, no no no. This couldn’t be happening.

Hunk could sense Keith’s fresh wave of dread, and he stepped backwards, holding his hands up in defense. “Keith, man, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. You were so panicked it just kinda happened.”

Keith quickly backed away and frantically clenched his fists, doing anything to keep himself from bursting into flames. He had to get away. _He had to get away._

“Just…” Keith couldn’t help it. He felt the normal warmth in his veins growing hotter and hotter, pooling in his fists. “Just stay away. You can’t- I can’t- please… just get away from me.”

Hunk muttered something under his breath and held two of his finger to his left temple in concentration. Keith didn’t stick around enough to find out why, as he sprinted blindly through the halls. His only thought was to get away. He just had to get _away_.

He almost did, as Keith saw the exit to the school grow closer and closer. He ran faster and faster, he was so close. _So close!_

Keith never made it, however, as he slammed face first into the chest of a larger student. Keith looked up, tears streaming down his eyes, when he was met with an older student with long, white hair. A single stray strand curled in front of his forehead and fell over his eyes. Keith pushed the stranger to the side as he remembered his one goal. To get _out_.

“Easy there, Keith,” The older boy said, grabbing onto Keith’s jacket sleeve and spinning him around. Keith should have been confused about how someone he had never met knew his name, maybe he was underneath all the grief, but he still couldn’t do anything besides try to escape.

“Let go of me. Let go!” Keith shouted, his hands scrabbling against the boy’s chest, weakly pushing himself away, yet to no avail.

“Keith?” An uncertain voice yelled from down the hall. Keith dimly realized this voice belonged to Lance. Hunk must have contacted him somehow through his powers when he first upset Keith. “Keith!” Lance called again, this time with more certainty. If the smoke curling off of Keith wasn’t enough to signal to Lance that this was Keith, the pang in his heart when looking at his friend in agony was more than enough.

Keith had been crying and was fighting against a much calmer senior. He was a sidekick, Lance remembered. He shared a class with him sophomore year before he was in the hero classes, and this student was a year older than him. Lance couldn’t remember his name, until he looked at his face. It was _Lotor_.

Lotor always had a… different… aura to him. Lotor could do almost what Hunk could, but nowhere to the same extent. The only thing that happened when around Lotor was he felt slightly jittery. Lotor complained about his lack of “real” powers for almost the entire time Lance shared classes with him. Lotor would talk to the class about being something more than sidekicks, and people would always shoot him down.

“Maybe if you could actually do something, Lotor,” The girls in his class would snicker. Lotor would meet them with a glare, and they would quiet immediately. Lotor wasn’t necessarily dangerous, but he didn’t make anyone feel happy, either.

But now Lotor was preventing Keith from running away from Lance, so Lance was nothing but grateful.

“Keith, come on dude, it’s alright. Let’s just talk about this.” Lance said, finally approaching Keith and holding his face between his hands.

Keith pulled away and tried, once again, to escape towards the door. Lotor, however, kept an iron grip on his jacket.

“Keith is scared you’ll hate him,” Lotor turned to Lance, a mocking frown emerging on his lips. Lance was taken aback at the sudden change in Lotor’s attitude. Wasn’t Lotor helping calm down Keith?

“No I’m not, I’m not,” Keith whispered frantically.

“Oh yes you are. I can feel it. A dangerous, fiery kid like you gets to come into school and is suddenly placed in the hero classes. Good thing you’ve got your older brother looking out for you, right?” Lotor chuckled. “You know, our parents were friends, back in the day. They were practically unstoppable. Until, they weren’t. Your parents were caught and ratted mine out, isn’t that unfortunate?”

Frost started forming on Lance’s hands and his voice dropped at least an octave. “Lotor, let Keith go,” he warned.

“Why should I? Everyone looks at me like I’m a villain. Why shouldn’t they look at Keith like that? Both of us want to be heroes, and both of us have powers that prevent that from happening.”

“Lotor, let Kei-”

“Why should I?” Lotor snarled, repeating his previous sentence when he realized Lance did not respond. “I heard he burned you, why are you defending him?”

Lance, in all his terror, let his eyes wander to Keith’s. Pure horror was reflected in them, and it made Lance’s breath catch in his throat.

“Do you really,” Lotor leaned closer to Keith’s frozen form, panic locking his bones together. Keith felt Lotor’s hair tickle the skin by Keith’s ear and Lotor spoke in a shouting whisper, making sure Lance could hear, “think someone like Lance would love _you_?”

“Lotor!” Lance screamed, breaking free from his panicked state. “Let him go, NOW!”

Lotor released his hand completely, stepping away from the struggle in one fluid motion. Just as fast as the conflict started, it stopped. Lance and Keith were left alone, looking into each other’s eyes, feeling just as terrified as the other looked.

“Keith,” Lance started, reaching his hand out to grab Keith’s. Keith flinched away from Lance’s approach and stepped backwards.

“No, Lance, I-” Keith’s tears returned, streaking down his cheeks and staining his red jacket a darker hue. How did everything change so quickly? One moment he was laughing alongside Lance, and the next, Lance knew everything Keith wanted to keep from him. “I’m sorry,” Keith managed.

Lance wanted to say how it was okay, how he would never think of Keith as a villain. How Lance made a promise to help Keith, and he was going to follow through, no matter what it took.

All Lance did was blink once.

And before Lance could comfort his new friend, Keith was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a decently langsty story but damn ! keith is getting all the angst right now, isn't he? only a little more keith angst (kangst?) and then the langst will come in, full force. and lotor is here... that can't be good, can it? and wow... poor keith... don't worry buddy. it probably can't get any worse than this... probably...


	7. Mr. Hot Stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings of slight child abuse, consisting of claustrophobic spaces. 
> 
> also, this chapter (along with the whole story) is un-betad so if you find a mistake, please let me know and i will fix it as soon as possible.
> 
> and thank you so much for 200+ kudos !!

It was Keith’s fault. It _always_ was.

Keith thought he could escape his past, what he did and who he was, but it somehow followed him to this school. Keith contemplated telling Lance about his birth parents on his own time, but this Lotor guy coming out of nowhere and throwing his secrets in Lance’s face with the brute force of a quarterback was exactly what Keith had hoped to avoid.

Now that Lance knew who his parents were, would he find out what Keith did to them?

Keith wasn’t always this bad at suppressing and controlling his powers… he used to be even worse. Granted, he was a child at the time, but that didn’t change the outcome. His parents weren’t exactly the nicest people, so one day he finally snapped, changing his life forever.

They had locked him locked in a closet, as they always did when Keith lost his temper, but this time his anger was fueled by the fighting he heard downstairs. Keith didn’t remember what the fighting was about, he was so young, but he remembered what happened afterwards.

The wooden closet erupted in flames, spreading hungrily throughout the house, destroying everything it touched. His parents may have been cruel, but they, in a twisted and sickening way, still loved him. They ran upstairs and tried to get him out of the closet, but the fire was all too much.

A stranger had saved Keith, a taller boy a few years older than himself. This boy had a special power, and he could move people to different times and places in the future. One second, Keith was pounding his fists on the closet door, trying to escape the flames surrounding him, and the next moment he was standing beside this boy outside on his street.

Keith looked up and saw the remains of his house, charred and blackened on the ground. He didn’t process what this meant, but he realized his parents were not with him. Keith turned towards the boy next to him, not realizing this boy had just saved his life, and begged him to help find Keith’s parents. Tears fell from the other boy’s cheeks, paving a path through the sweat and soot dusted on his face. Keith at the time did not know why, but later that day, everything was explained.

Keith was then an orphan for a year. 12 months of being constantly surrounded by boys his age, the kids always fighting or bullying one another. Keith stayed as far away from them as possible, never wanting to be provoked into using his powers ever again. He was never adopted and he never made any friends. Not that he wanted any friends… or believed he deserved them.

The boy who saved Keith from the fire, a school student named Takashi, visited him every week. They became fast friends, Keith begging Takashi to show off his powers for him, and Takashi happy to have such an intrigued audience. Takashi tried to convince Keith to use his powers as well, but Keith refused every time. “Never again,” he would say.

After the 12th month, the Shirogane family took in Keith as one of their own. The friendship Takashi and Keith had before had grown even stronger, and the Shiroganes were happy to have such a wonderful addition to the family. Keith was excited to finally leave the orphanage and have a family of his own, but he never stopped thinking of his birth parents. They were never found in the fire, nor were their remains. If they had survived, maybe they would have tried to find him. But maybe… they were dead.

Either way, they were no longer in his life.

The Shiroganes had tried for years and years to convince Keith to go to school, but Keith feared for the safety of his peers and refused every time. Takashi would come home after school and mentor Keith, teaching him the same lessons he learned in class that day. Takashi would tell him that if he went to school, he would be the smartest kid in his grade. Keith, however, did not care about being smart or not. If he could help it, he would never endanger other people’s lives again. Even if it meant never going to school and never using his powers.

Soon enough, Takashi had graduated from Sky High at the top of his class, and went on to becoming a certified superhero. He was so busy with juggling both a normal college life and a behind-the-scenes, action-packed superhero life, that he never had time to come home and tutor Keith.

Keith would do research on his own, staying up to date with current events and trying to teach himself certain subjects, but nothing was as effective as when Takashi would help him. Takashi only went to regular college for two years, and decided he was done with the learning life. Takashi had always loved teaching, hence one of the reasons he would tutor Keith so willingly, so when a spot as a class counselor opened up at Sky High, he immediately took the position they offered him.

Takashi, now known as Mr. Shirogane by his students, postponed his superhero duties and worked full time at the school. Shiro would have a little more time to tutor Keith at home now, but there wasn’t much more to teach. Shiro, once again, tried to convince Keith to go to public school, more for the social aspect rather than the academic.

Keith was 17 now, and hadn’t used his powers in years (this excluded carefully heating up his body slightly in the winter, and warming cups of coffee or tea when they fell to room temperature). If Keith wasn’t going to expose himself to the outside world soon, he probably never would. Both Shiro and Keith knew this, but Shiro was the only one motivated to make a change.

One day, halfway through the school year, Shiro came home and told Keith he had enrolled him in classes. Keith was furious. How could Shiro directly disobey his wishes of never having to surround himself with people he could harm?

Shiro reassured Keith that he had found someone who could combat his powers, but he never gave a name or a description on what his powers were. Keith was angry at Shiro for going behind his back and also angry at him not telling Keith who this kid was and how his powers could protect himself from Keith’s. Shiro laughed, promising Keith that this boy, and the entire school in fact, could hold their own.

The night before his first day of school, Keith couldn’t sleep. A bubbling mixture of fear, longing, and anxiousness boiled in the pit of his stomach, all swirling together and making one confusing mess. Keith yearned to be around other kids his age and actually have friends, but he was terrified of what they would see in him, and if he would hurt them. Keith promised himself he would try his best to make friends, as this was probably one of the only opportunities he would have.

When Keith first met the boy who would be his mentor, Keith was rude and broody, the exact opposite of what he promised himself he would try to be. Keith chalked it up to stress, but the first day only went downhill from there. Outside in the courtyard, where his mentor, Lance, dragged him to, Keith used his powers for the first time in years.

It may have been nerves, or it may have been anger, but Keith’s hair had erupted into flames. After it had gone out, Keith was more scared and more furious at himself than he had ever been in his whole life. Keith had years to control his powers, and even now he couldn’t do something as simple as keep his hair from catching fire.

That wasn’t even the worst part of the day, as Keith was locked in a closet by some Senior bullies and made a terrible mistake. It was all too familiar to the day his parents vanished, that he lost control. Keith remembered holding his heads in his hands and screaming, fire shooting across the room, and the next thing he saw was Lance and Shiro kneeling before him.

Yeah, it wasn’t necessarily Keith’s proudest moment.

Weeks later, Lance and Keith had finally started getting along. It had taken some time, but Keith now realized he had a friend. More than one, actually, as Pidge, Hunk, and maybe now even Shay, respected him and treated him with kindness. Keith wasn’t exactly sure if this was all it took to be friends with someone, but in Keith’s short book of relationships, it was.

All that was lost as Keith went running through the hallways, frantically wiping at the tears when they fell down his face. Keith didn’t know where he was running to, but he found himself in Shiro’s office, his back against the door as he sunk to the floor. Shiro looked up wildly and rushed forward, pulling Keith off the ground and placing him in the closest chair.

“—eith. Keith? What happened?” Shiro shook Keith back into focus and he looked up at Shiro through blurry eyes.

“Lance knows, Shiro. He knows about my parents and he—” Keith bit back a sob but failed miserably as it tore ruthlessly from his throat. “He knows that I like him. I didn’t even realize I liked him like _that_ until that stupid sidekick read my mind or something and told the entire fucking school! I _do_ like him Shiro! A whole fucking lot! And now he probably hates me!”

Shiro frowned, almost telling Keith off for the use of such crude language in the middle of his office but decided it was the least of his worries at the moment. “Well for starters, I think it was pretty obvious you had feelings for Lance, and that’s okay. He truly does care for you and he’s a good kid. He only wants to see you to succeed, Keith.”

“But I don’t _care_ about that! Whatever Lance thought about as a friend or whatever he saw me as will be ruined now that he knows abo—"

“Keith, stop,” Shiro interjected, silencing Keith’s outburst.

“I’ve known Lance for longer than you have, and he is the last person on this earth to judge you for who you’re related to. Do you know why I picked Lance, of all people, to be your mentor here?” Shiro asked.

Keith hiccupped. “…Because he has ice powers and can counteract my fire?”

Shiro chuckled softly and wiped the tears from Keith’s cheeks, only earning an embarrassed groan and a backwards flinch from the boy in front of him. “Technically, yes, but Lance isn’t the only one at this school with control over ice. I picked him because he _understands_ what you’re going through. He knows nobody is perfect, and he knows it’s okay to be afraid of who you are or who you could be, as long as you know you have control over your own future.”

Shiro continued, leaning backwards and brushing his palms on the fabric of his pants, “Your heritage and your past doesn’t dictate who you are. Lance likes you for who you are now, and that didn’t change when he found out about your parents. You’re still Keith. He knows this.”

Keith laughed bitterly, but couldn’t help feeling as if Shiro was right. Keith had spent so long running from his past, surely he had passed the finish line of that particular race by now, right? Was he on a completely different path now? One that didn’t revolve his life around who he used to be?

“You know what?” Shiro asked, leaning forward and cupping his hands underneath his chin. “I want you to text Lance, right now. Let him know you need to talk to him after school. I can assure you he will answer and be very understanding.”

“You’re crazy,” Keith deadpanned.

“I’m not. You can count the seconds, too. I bet he’ll respond within the same minute you send it.”

Keith’s hand moved unconsciously over the cellphone in his front pocket to protect it from Shiro’s ridiculous ideas. No way in hell was he going to text Lance after having an emotional breakdown right in front of his face.

“If you don’t text him, I can make you text him,” Shiro threatened.

Keith froze, shocked that Shiro would imply using his powers to force Keith into doing something he didn’t want to do. “You promised you would never use your powers against me like that,” Keith whispered, the ache in his heart threatening to split him in half.

Shiro sighed, instantly regretting saying something so harsh. “You’re right, I’m sorry I said that. It was wrong, and I would never actually do anything to hurt you. But I still think you should text him, and I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t truly believe it will benefit the both of you.”

Keith let go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and deflated helplessly in his chair. “Maybe you’re right,” he grumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. If Lance really did hate him, texting him couldn’t possibly make it any worse than it already was.

Keith typed his message carefully, choosing each word with extreme caution.

_Hey Lance, we need to talk after school about what happened today… if that’s alright with you. Preferably someplace private?_

Keith’s finger hovered uncertainly over the ‘send’ button, before glancing up at Shiro for reassurance. Shiro nodded his head and smiled kindly, urging Keith to follow through. Before Keith could think too much about what he was about to do, he jammed his finger down and sent the message.

Instantly, a pang of regret attacked his gut, manifesting and growing with every second the message existed in front of him.

“Oh my god, I shouldn’t have done that,” Keith whispered, clenching the fist that wasn’t holding his phone against the hem of his tee. Cutting off Keith’s his frantic mumbles, the three terrifying dots of death that signaled Lance was typing back appeared in the lower left corner of his screen.

Keith’s heart beat out of control as he awaited a response. The three dots disappeared for a short yet still horrifying moment before they appeared again, lasting only for a few seconds before Lance sent his own message.

_Of course! Wanna meet an hour after school ends at the duck pond behind my house?_

Keith fumbled his fingers around, replying to Lance’s response.

_Sure. See you then._

“Well?” Shiro asked after Keith locked his phone and stared blankly at the now blackened screen.

“We’re, uh, meeting behind Lance’s house an hour after school gets out.”

“Good! That’s good. I can take you home so don’t have to go to your classes today if you’re too upset to see Lance before this afternoon. I can tell the nurse you weren’t feeling well and decided to go home if you would like.” Shiro comforted, reaching forward and lightly ruffling Keith’s hair.

“That would be great,” Keith smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

“Anything for you, little bro,” Shiro joked, slightly tugging on the hair he had previously ruffled.

Keith swatted his hand away and stood up, brushing imaginary dust off his pants before taking deep breaths to regain his composure.

“Okay I’m ready,” Keith confirmed, more to himself than to Shiro. “Let’s go.”

 

———

Keith stumbled down the winding path behind Lance’s house, moving as fast as he could without looking like an idiot. Speed-walking would probably be the most appropriate term. Keith had gotten caught up with over-analyzing every possible way this conversation could go that he lost track of time, and when he finally came back to himself, he realized he was late.

Winding through the maze of trees, Keith finally reached the close side of the pond and circled his way around to the tail end. Sure enough, Lance was sitting in the same spot he was last time, his knees tucked in to his chest and his arms wrapped around his shins. When Lance saw Keith approach him, he untangled himself from his position and slowly stood up.

Keith stopped a few feet from Lance and caught his breath, taking quick gulps of air and conjuring as much saliva in his mouth as he could to wet his parched tongue.  Lance tried to speak first, but Keith cut him off, refusing to let Lance ruin his rehearsed speech.

“Lance, I need to you to just listen, okay?” Keith said, silencing Lance’s approach. “I was going to tell you about my parents when I felt comfortable, but I wanted to make sure you trusted me enough to know I never want to be like them when I told you. I really do want to be a hero and I want you to know that I truly appreciate everything you’ve done for me since I’ve attended Sky High. I also want to tell you something that I know you’ll probably be very uncomfortable with but you kinda already know so I want you to hear it from me before someone else hijacks my brain and says it for me.

“I didn’t realize until now but I really, really like you. Not just as a friend, although you’re a great friend, but I’ve finally put together everything I’ve been feeling since I’ve met you and I now realize that to me, it’s more than friendship. I know you don’t feel the same, so I’m letting you know this because I’m hoping we can move past this and go back to the way things were…” Keith slowed down, squinting and Lance, “…before… WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!?”

Lance had doubled over and was clutching his stomach, tears springing free from his face. Keith immediately felt the temperature of his cheeks rise, and he began to back away. Out of everything Keith had imagined, he never expected Lance to _laugh_ at him. Keith had anticipated Lance to slap him and never speak to him, at the worst, but somehow Lance laughing at him was even more painful than the force of any slaps or punches the other boy could muster.

Keith turned on his heel and began to stalk away, but Lance reached over and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket before he could do so. He spun Keith around and grabbed both of his shoulders to prevent him from escaping once again.

“Keith, buddy, my man, you really have no idea, do you?” Lance managed in between laughs and wheezes.

“Okay, I get it, you don’t need to rub it in my face! I’ll leave you alone and you never need to speak to me again!” Keith hissed harshly, trying to pull away from Lance’s iron grip.

“What, dude, no! I’ve been sending you hints that I like you for weeks! I was starting to think you’d never pick up on it. I mean, do you really think I would tell my whole childhood sob story to just anyone? And what about the hand holding? I held your hand for like three weeks straight even when we both know you didn’t need it most of the time.”

Keith’s mouth fell open in a wide ‘O’, his eyes wide and unblinking as he started at Lance.

“But… but you always flirt with that girl Nyma in Coran’s homeroom class? A-and, the way you look at Allura in gym, I mean, you never looked at _me_ like that!” Keith spurted, his words going a mile a minute.

“Uh, yeah, because Nyma and I, well, that’s like our thing. She definitely does _not_ like me in that way, and although I may have had a crush on her a year or so ago, I got over it so fast, man. And Allura, she’s drop dead _gorgeous_ , but teachers are so out of bounds. And by the way, I don’t look at you like ‘that’, Mr. _Hot Stuff_ ,” Lance jabbed Keith in the chest, “because you aren’t just someone I joke around with or look at because you’re pretty. You’re too important for sideways glances and once-overs”

Lance was on a roll now, his free hand flying everywhere as he motioned frantically, “You’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and although you’re probably the sexiest guy I’ve _ever seen_ in my _entire life,_ I like you for who you _are_ , not what you look like!”

Keith stared dumbfounded and Lance’s sudden confession, wondering if it actually just happened. “But…” Keith hesitated, “you don’t even know who I am, I mean, you just found out about my parents today. They were bad people, Lance. You should be concerned that I could end up like them.”

Lance brought his hand back to Keith’s shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, “I could care less about who your parents are, Keith. Heck, my parents have absolutely no powers, just like the rest of my family. Your past and your family doesn’t set who you will be in stone when you emerge from the frickin’ womb. I know who you are _now_ , and that’s all that matters. You’re Keith Kogane, a broody, emo teenager who wears what looks like the same black shirt every single day, has a jacket that doesn’t reach his waist, and don’t even get me started on that mullet thing you got going on in the back of your head.

“None of that speaks for who you actually are as a person, though. You’re also Keith Kogane, a kid who’s scared to hurt his friends, and would never, _ever_ , do so intentionally. You’re someone who puts others first, no matter the cost. You pretend not to care about others but I can tell you care more than anything, even though you’re scared about putting in more love than you would ever receive. I want you to know that every ounce of love you feel for me, or Pidge, or Hunk, or any of us, we want to multiply it by a thousand times its worth and give it back to you, because you’re our friend and you mean the world to u—"

Keith cut off Lance’s rambling by slamming his lips against the other’s, wrapping his arms around his lower back and pulling them closer. Lance froze but quickly followed suit, leaning into the embrace and placing one hand behind Keith’s head.

Keith didn’t know what made him lunge forward and attack Lance’s mouth with his own, but when Lance relaxed in his arms and returned the level of passion Keith put in, everything was worth it. Keith was unexperienced with kissing, as Lance could probably tell, but Keith let Lance lead the whole way. They stayed there, desperately clashing against each other, only breaking away temporarily to breathe before returning to one another once again. In all honesty, Keith didn’t think his first kiss could have gone any better.

When they finally pulled apart, Lance sent Keith the most beautiful and genuine grin he had ever received. “Well, that was easy,” Lance chuckled, biting the corner of his bottom lip and looking extremely attractive while doing so, like the annoyingly perfect model he was.

Keith playfully punched Lance’s shoulder and nuzzled his nose into the crook in Lance’s neck, welcoming the warmth it brought. He drunk in Lance’s scent, locking a bit of it away in the corner of his mind so he would never forget it. Keith never wanted to let go, but one thought managed to shake him from his trance.

“So, what were you saying earlier about my mullet? Do you not like it?” he asked, pouting and blinking innocently.

Lance groaned and rolled his eyes so far, they must have entered another dimension.

“Keith, you are _totally_ ruining the moment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update! i hope everyone is having a happy holiday and a great end to 2017! i know this chapter seemed kinda rushed but i just really wanted to get to lance and keith together... i hate slowburn fics ((((: so yay! it's officially a klance story! next chapter will bring back the action, with these two lovely boys pitted against hunk and pidge in gym class... i wonder who'll win?


	8. (Try to) Save the Citizen

Having a boyfriend was way different than Keith expected.

 _Way_ different.

Granted, Keith wasn’t really expecting rose petals to fall everywhere they stepped together, but he was probably just as much surprised by the change in Lance’s behavior as he would be flowers raining from the sky.

It wasn’t that Lance changed, per say, but his personality was upped to impossible levels. The flirting? Every second they were together. The hand holding? Lance never let go. The warm smiles, the (sometimes) funny jokes, and the persistent acknowledgement of Lance enjoying Keith’s company? It _wrecked_ Keith. It had only been a week and Keith was pretty sure one more dazzling smiling would leave him teetering on the edge of spontaneously combusting. Not that it was a bad thing, though. Keith was just so overwhelmed, he didn’t know what to do.

One thing he _did_ know how to do, thankfully, was take out his pent-up emotions. Specifically, at other things or other people.

Gym class was as physically taxing as ever, pushing them to their limits every day. Professor Allura announcing they would take a break from regular training and they would all partake in Save the Citizen didn’t help Keith’s skepticism about the whole thing.

“Save the citizen?” Keith asked Lance in class, turning his head to the right.

“Oh man it’s the best! I bet Allura will team us up too since she knows about the whole ice combats fire when you get upset thing,” Lance beamed.

“Hey! I am much better at controlling my fire now, _Frozone_. You’re lucky I like you or I would never hold your sweaty hand again.” Keith fired back.

Lance slapped his hand over his chest and feigned hurt. “Sweaty hands? Me? You must be thinking of yourself, _hot stuff_. I don’t sweat.”

“Tell that to your nasty palms,” Keith grumbled, knowing Lance definitely did sweat but also knowing Keith was probably the main culprit behind it with his unnaturally high body temperature. Not that he could help it. Or that he’d ever admit it to Lance.

“Can you two lovebirds shut it? I’m trying to hear the teams!” Pidge complained from behind Lance and Keith, pretending to karate-chop their hands apart from one another.

Lance laughed and pulled Keith and his hands away from Pidge and brought them closer to his chest, grabbing both of their hands with his other one. “We’re lovesick teens, Pidge.” Lance told her, turning his head around, “Let us live our lives!”

“Lance?” A loud voice called from the front. Lance’s head whipped back around with the speed of light.

“Yes Professor?”

“Are you listening?” Allura chided, knowing very well the answer to her question.

“Oh yeah, of course. You were saying how my partner and I are gonna kick ass at Save the Citizen today?” He batted his lids with fake innocence.

“Unsurprisingly, I did not. I said you and Keith will be partners, and you will be playing the role of the heroes.”

“Sweet!” Lance pumped his unclasped hand in front of him in a victory motion. “You better be ready to sweep the floor, Kogane! This is gonna be awesome!”

Allura eyed Lance disapprovingly before glancing at her clipboard once more. “And the villains against Lance and Keith will be….” She paused before continuing, “Hunk and Pidge.”

“Ha ha ha, alright!” Pidge cheered. “Get ready to eat dirt, suckers!”

Lance stuck his tongue out as Hunk smiled warily.

“This will be interesting, we’ve never gone against Lance _and_ Keith before!” He grinned, not an ounce of malice in his expression.

“Yeah, I mean, this is my first time doing Save the Citizen _ever_ , so if we lose, it’s all on Lance,” Keith joked.

“Uh, you better be able to keep up, newbie. The spoon-feeding and handholding stops here!” Lance let go of Keith’s hand to prove his point.

Keith laughed, stuffing his now seemingly naked hand into the pocket of his jeans. Keith wasn’t an expert on Save the Citizen, as he had never actually participated in one, but he could only imagine the intensity of the fight between the heroes and villains when the time came. Keith had grown to trust Hunk and Pidge, and he now knows they wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt him, but Keith was still uncertain about how they would fight without permanently destroying the friendship they worked so hard to build.

As if Hunk had sensed his discomfort, and he very well may have, he walked closer and placed a soft hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“Hey Keith,” Hunk started, looking the most vulnerable and concerned he had ever seen him. Keith was seriously having second thoughts about having to fight him even if just for a harmless game in class. “I know things between us haven’t been… the best… lately. But I’m really sorry for what I did and I don’t have to use my powers on you today if you don’t want me too.”

Keith looked up at his friend and smiled reassuringly. “Hunk, don’t worry about it. I know you were only trying to help. And I trust you to use your powers without hurting me. How am I supposed to learn how to combat an attack like that if I don’t try now?”

Hunk let loose a genuine grin and sighed thankfully. “I’m really glad to hear that, I was worried I had ruined our friendship or something. I never meant to put you in an uncomfortable situation.”

“Really? I was thinking the same thing. Thanks, man.”

“Yeah, no problem. See you in the ring!”

Hunk turned around and walked to the Villains side of the field while Keith watched his retreat. Keith was about to walk to the Heroes side when he realized his heart was beating wildly out of control. Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, he reflected on his conversation with Hunk. Talking things out with other people was definitely not Keith’s forte, much less talking about embarrassing moments that were his fault. To be fair, he had a lot of practice with Lance, who was always trying to excuse Keith’s actions and make him feel like they shared some sort of bond through similar tragedies in the past, but talking to someone else was much, much different. He hated how nervous he got when keeping intact friendships and relationships became a large part of his life.

Keith spotted Lance behind the hero’s entrance to the ring, and finally walked over to join him. Lance was stretching to warm up, sitting on the ground and reaching forward to touch his toes. Lance’s hands went way beyond the tips of his feet and his chest met his legs to rest gracefully upon them— _damn, just how flexible was he?_ Lance got up and proceed to stretch his biceps, before he turned and saw Keith approach him.

Lance smiled and exaggerated his movements, swinging his arms wildly in circles to loosen his muscles and then doing jumping jacks around Keith.

“Woo! Get pumped, ya hottie! We’re gonna kick some ass! Let’s go! Let’s do this!” Lance yelled unnecessarily supportive and slightly intimidating things as he continued to do jumping jacks in circles around Keith. Keith was taken aback by the sudden spike of exuberance so he reached out and firmly pinned the human jumping bean down to earth.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, almost laughing but trying hard to remain serious.

“I get so pumped before Save the Citizen! I can’t help it! Get ready, Kogane, cause we’re gonna bring down the roof—“

“Lance, please!” Keith yelled back. “We need an actual plan instead of just running in head first!”

“You? Saying we need a plan instead of running in head first? Oh wow, that’s rich.”

Lance stopped trying to jump against the pressure of Keith’s hands holding him down and he smacked in forehead. “Oh, wait! Duh, Lance! Keith has never fought Pidge and Hunk before.”

“Yeah, smartass, I haven’t. So what do we do?” Keith tentatively let go of Lance, hoping he wouldn’t commence his previous act of insanity.

“Well,” Lance began to explain, fully versed in characterizing his two best friends, “Don’t let Pidge’s small size deceive you. She’s actually a genius and pretty ruthless, too. She can build a functional attack robot out of metal in minutes, and you can cut that time down to seconds if she just constantly controls it manually. Hunk can freak you out and make you lose control of your powers a little bit, but he never does it all the way, especially in Save the Citizen or when he’s going against someone he cares about. Still, he’ll probably focus on that as soon as we start to distract us while Pidge builds her machine.”

Keith laughed nervously and cracked his knuckles, “I already have a spotty history with controlling my powers, so this should be fun.”

“You’ll be fine, babe. I have absolute faith in you,” Lance said, as he leaned forward and gave Keith a soft kiss on the forehead, Keith’s cheeks firing up red in response. Lance realized he didn’t even have to bend down to give Keith a forehead kiss. Perks of having a perfect sized boyfriend.

“Villains, are you ready?” Allura’s voice crackled over the gym’s loudspeaker. Lance and Keith couldn’t see Pidge and Hunk from outside their end of the ring, but they assumed Pidge and Hunk gave the okay, because Allura moved on to them.

“Heroes, are you ready?” She asked again, earning a double thumbs up and a shout of “oh yeah!” from Lance and a hesitant single thumbs up from Keith.

“Let’s do this,” Lance murmured under his breath and he shook out his arms once more. “Prepare yourself, Keith. Hunk’s powers will hit us as soon as we walk in. If we can take him out before Pidge builds her robot, or even if we can save the citizen before then, this’ll be a piece of cake.”

“Aye aye, captain.” Keith replied, surprised at himself for being able to crack a small joke in the face of battle. Wow, Lance was really rubbing off on him.

“Ready,” the static of the speakers came to life once again, “Set…. Go!”

The doors in front of Lance and Keith opened and they immediately rushed into the ring. Keith barely had a few seconds to survey his surroundings, noticing the fake doll-like citizen suspended in midair and above spinning metal blades below, before Hunk’s powers hit Keith like a semi-truck.

The warmth of his powers beneath his skin spread like a wildfire, enveloping his entire body and transforming into hot tingles. Keith doubled over and panted harshly, clenching his fists and fighting to keep his powers at bay. Looking to the side, Keith could see Lance was in a similar position, but he was still advancing towards the citizen at the middle of the room.

Keith grit his teeth and eventually managed to take a shaky step forward. Lance was way ahead of him by this point, but before he could reach the citizen, a sheet of metal ripped away from the side of the ring and separated Lance from the citizen, stopping him dead in his tracks.

 Lance ran around the side of the metal sheet and was met with a bigger concern. A 10 foot metal robot was running at him head on, and Lance only barely managed to dive out of the way before it met him. Lance leapt off the ground and was on his feet in a split second, holding his hands up and ready to attack.

The robot swung his larger right arm at Lance and he managed to evade the robot once again. Before the robot could regain its balance and center itself again, Lance shot a stream of ice at the leg closest to him and managed to lock up its joint.

His victory was short lived, however, when the robot simply spun its leg around and freed itself from the ice.

 _Dammit_ , Lance thought. _Pidge has really stepped up her game_.

He tried again, this time aiming his ice towards the robot’s head, but was forced to stop as a leg went slicing through the air next to him. Lance yelled angrily across the ring at Pidge, “You know, you’re gonna kill me you little devil!”

Pidge laughed and waved her hand, the robot following her movements. “Oh, hey Lance,” she called back. “Didn’t see you there! How’s the ass kicking going?”

Pidge made a fist and punched it forward, Lance not realizing in time how the robot would follow suit when she moved. Lance turned around and jumped to the side as quick as possible, but the robot managed to clip him on the shoulder as he spun from the force and fell to the ground. Looking up and focusing through the hazy world spinning around him, Lance saw Keith on his hands and knees, flames rising off his arms and back.

Lance cursed under his breath and shot a stream of ice Keith’s way, putting out the fire and shaking Keith from his stupor. If Lance was going to be fighting the robot, he needed Keith to be able to save the citizen.

“Keith!” Lance called, managing to catch his attention, “You need to save the citizen while—“

Lance was cut short as a robot arm came at him from above. He rolled out of the way and sprung to his feet, arms back up but this time in a defensive position.

“While I beat Pidge’s _stupid_ robot!” Keith seemed to process Lance’s words and nodded, slowly standing up from the ground.

All Lance had to do was keep this dumb robot away from Keith while he saved the citizen.

Simple.

Lance danced around the robot’s flailing limbs and froze every part he could fire ice at. If only Lance could get close enough to touch it with his fingers, he could probably freeze the whole thing in a split second, but Pidge knew this and was making sure Lance never got the chance. That damn gremlin, always two steps ahead. It was convenient when they weren’t going head to head, but right now, Pidge’s ability to predict Lance’s every move was slightly infuriating.

Lance jumped out of the way once again, this time managing to spare a glance at Keith in the process. The fire had begun again, although now contained to his hands. Keith kept clenching his fists in what looked like an effort to stop the flames, although to no avail.  Lance spoke a silent prayer and hoped Keith would manage on his own, because there was no way Lance could shoot another stream of ice to dwindle the fire now, at least not with the current intensity of the robot’s attacks.

Technically, he _could_ use his powers to… no. No way. Lance shut down that thought immediately. Although Lance would admit to being a very competitive person, a simple game of Save the Citizen wasn’t worth exposing himself. Especially not in front of his entire class _and_ Professor Allura.

But maybe, just maybe, he could outrun the robot for only a little while? Maybe he could make it to Keith physically and he could stop the fire that way. If he could evade the robot while reaching Keith, Lance could easily put out all the flames by touching Keith’s hand. Then, Lance could return quickly to fighting the robot while Keith used his newly found freedom to save the citizen.

Lance quickly looked up at the clock and saw a :45 flickering on the scoreboard. Okay, 45 seconds. They could do this.

Lance started backing up towards Keith, keeping his front facing the robot. He waited for the robot to swing at him one final time before jumping into action. Lance spun around frantically and sprinted with all his strength at Keith, closing the gap in only seconds, and reached his hand out to meet Keith’s.

In what seemed to be slow-motion, Keith noticed Lance’s approach from the side. He reached out his hand as well, stretching as far as he could to get to Lance sooner. Arm extended and only a fraction of an inch away from Keith’s fingertips, Lance was almost certain he would make it in time. Unfortunately, like he was most of the time, he was wrong.

The robot’s arm connected with Lance’s side in a deafening blow, sending him flying across the ring to the other side. He skidded on the ground and slammed into the wall of the ring, laying at Hunk’s feet and in the same limp posture as the citizen doll.

“Oh my god! Pidge! Did you kill him?” Hunk wailed, wanting to move forward but knowing he had to keep Keith trapped in his own mind or Pidge might kill _him_ for losing. Besides, there was nothing he could do now. Allura had already jumped down from her seat and was rushing to the ring.

“I’ve hit him with worse before, he’s fine!” Pidge reassured, almost laughing. And she was right, they’ve all been hit with worse before. Hunk was still nervous, however, at least until he saw Lance stir at his feet.

“Ow, Pidge. Thanks a lot,” Lance grumbled, managing to pull himself into a sitting position before rubbing his head and back. He tried to stand, but his legs gave out and he was forced to remain on the ground.

“Dude I think you gave me a concussion,” Lance complained, no foreigner to head injuries after years play fighting with his siblings and getting his butt kicked in gym class.

Pidge waved him off with a flick of her wrist, “You’re fine. And besides, _we’re_ about to win.”

Lance hastily looked up and spotted Keith, now only a few feet away from saving the citizen. Lance tried once again to stand but ended up reverting to shouting words of reassurance when he failed to pull himself upright.

“Come on, Keith! Ten seconds left! You can do it!” A desperate yell of encouragement tore its way free from Lance’s throat.

Keith stumbled once more, but at least every step he took was one step closer to saving the citizen. Keith blinked and focused his sight through the wave of flames surrounding him, as he reached forward to free the citizen doll before it was dropped into the whirling blades below.

With five seconds to go, Keith had managed to shoot one frantic line of flames at the rope holding the citizen captive. He reached both of his arms out to catch the citizen before it fell, but in doing so, he tripped over his own feet and landed hands first on the outside base of the machine.

Almost instantly, the metal coating the machine bubbled and melted, sending the rest of the contraption to follow suit. The rope holding the citizen in the air finally snapped from the previous flames engulfing it, and the citizen fell directly into the freshly formed magma pit of molten metal below.

Lance watched in horror as the citizen went up in flames, burning like a dried-out and abandoned scarecrow in the middle of July. The buzzer to signal the end of the fight went off as soon as Lance saw the fire engulf the doll’s chest. He sighed and let his head fall back against the edge of the ring, knowing they had lost.

Now that the alarm had sounded and Pidge and Hunk had officially won, the relentless pounding of Hunk’s powers on Lance’s mind evaporated. Lance didn’t realize how much pressure he was under until it was gone, finally feeling like he could take a breath of fresh air. As soon as the pressure faded, a new feeling took it place and settled in. Hunk was sending wave after wave of support and comfort, obviously guilty for having to put Lance and Keith through that kind of mental strain.

“Hunk, it’s fine! We knew something like this was gonna happen. You guys were just playing to win like we were. Don’t feel bad that we lost!” Lance almost whined, trying to convince his best friend that everything was okay.

Hunk’s lip quivered dangerously, his eyes joining in on the action and watering painfully. “I know but I feel so bad! I told Keith I wouldn’t use my powers on him when I met him and then I accidentally did on that campaign day and I used them again now!” He broke off and hiccupped.

Keith had walked over by now, albeit unsteadily. A thin sheen of sweat had coated his face, no doubt from the overuse of his powers.

“Hunk, it’s fine. I know you wouldn’t do this unless you had to and unless everything was going to be okay in the end, right?” Hunk nodded slowly. Keith smiled and nodded back, turning to Lance.

“But man, it sure is embarrassing to lose like that, I’m really sorry Lance.”

Lance laughed and cut him off.

“Are you kidding? I flew like a billion feet in the air and slammed into a wall. You set the so called ‘Jaws of Death’ on _fire_ , and the fake citizen burned to death in a wonderful display of color. I don’t know about you, but to me that seems like a pretty cool way to lose.”

Keith and Hunk both groaned, but Pidge, who had been fiddling with the remains of her robot, laughed from where she was sitting cross-legged on the ground.

“Oh yeah, it was super cool. Almost as cool as Hunk and me winning!” She stalked over and high fived a very reluctant looking Hunk.

“My hat goes off to you, Pidgeon. You did well young padawan.” Lance said dramatically. Pidge scoffed and violently poked the top of Lance’s head.

“Before you know it, I’ll be the young _evil_ padawan that takes over the world and stabs you in the heart with a really cool light saber,” she swung an imaginary light saber in a baseball bat motion and stopped when it would have been pointing at Lance’s chest.

At that moment, Allura rushed into the ring and hurried over to where Lance was leaned against the wall. Hunk and Pidge quickly moved to the side to let her through, Keith awkwardly following suit.

“Lance, how do you feel?” She asked, legitimate concern filling her voice.

“I’m fine, Professor. Honestly. I might have a concussion through.” Lance replied, all the while still smiling.

“Let me see,” Allura muttered, grabbing Lance’s head and looking into his eyes. A very faint light shone from the hand holding Lance’s head before she sighed and leaned further back onto her heels. “Yep, you have a concussion. Just give me one moment…”

She trailed off as the light grew stronger. With the increase of Allura’s powers, Lance was met with the ever-odd sensation of her healing doing its work. It numbed his head and made his eyelids droop, a slight chill emerging and forcing its way under his skin. Before even ten seconds had passed, the feeling disappeared and Allura stood up.

“No driving for the rest of the day, okay? And no staring at bright lights. You’ll be fine by tomorrow morning.” She reassured.

“Thanks Professor,” Lance replied. He went to stand up but was met with an outstretched hand offering its assistance. Lance followed the arm up to its owner and was met with a sheepish Keith, and although Keith shifted awkwardly at Lance staring him directly in the eyes, he held his ground. Lance happily accepted Keith’s hand and pulled himself up, brushing off his pants when fully realigned himself in a standing position.

“Cool! Well, congrats Pidge, Hunk. I think I’m gonna go wallow in self-pity now if that’s alright with you guys.” Lance stated nonchalantly, walking over to the benches to see the next group to head off in Save the Citizen.

Keith let out a wordless noise of anguish at Lance’s remark, and Lance spun around to face him.

“Oh no, babe, I was joking! You know, self-deprecating jokes is how I cope with overwhelming failures.” Lance spluttered, biting his tongue when he saw Keith’s frown deepen even more.

“Ah, damn, I’ll stop that now,” Lance interjected once again, “I’m not actually upset! Losing is a part of life sometimes! We’ll just both have to work more on controlling our powers!”

Keith rolled his eyes, for the first time at himself rather than at Lance. Maybe training more wasn’t such a bad idea. “I mean, if it’s with you,” Keith smirked, “I’m up for anything.”

Lance froze and choked, bursting out in coughs just long enough for Keith to doubt what he said.

Keith was never an outwardly flirtatious person, for the same reason he was an inexperienced kisser and was always shocked by the overwhelming attention he received when dating. Because, well, he had never dated or flirted with anyone before. Now, saying something so out of character and so sudden, Keith wondered if he made a mistake and created uncomfortable and unwanted tension between them.

When Lance was finally able to breathe again, his face was read and he seemed to still be gasping slightly for air.

“Dude, next time you decide to take my heart for a joyride, at least give me a warning?” Lance complained. “My fragile heart can’t handle it.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked wildly. “You flirt all the time!”

“Uh, yeah, but people I flirt with that I _like_ don’t actually flirt _back_.”

Keith blinked, stunned into silence. Lance… always had girls swooning over him left and right. Even when they were holding hands in the hallways, a few members of their class would steal longing glances here and there. Lance was no antagonist, so when girls smiled at him, he politely smiled back. Keith wasn’t sure if he was just jealous, but sometimes those smiles seemed slightly more provocative than simple kindness.

But now, knowing Lance never really flirted with someone he actually had feelings for and had those feelings returned, was not only a shock but a guilty comfort. Keith was unsure before, but with this new revelation, he knew he could _be_ someone for Lance. Someone who returned Lance’s jokes, his flirtatious comments, his undying passion.

“Well, get used to it, hot stuff. Now that I’m on a roll, _I ain’t ever gonna stop_.” Keith comically let a bit of his old Texan accent slip through at the end of his sentence.

“Excuse you?” Lance gasped. “ _You_ are Mr. Hot Stuff, you lameo fire boy. I’m like the cool, ninja, ice man.” Lance clasped his hands together and feigned shooting a finger gun, bringing it up to his face afterwards and blowing as if blowing smoke off a pistol after a shot in an old west movie. Lance, however, made his fingers ice up at the tips so when he blew, he blew cold smoke into Keith’s face.

Keith fanned his hands in front of his eyes to disperse the smoke and grumbled. “Just because you don’t have fire powers doesn’t mean you can’t be hot.”

Lance’s eyes exploded to the size of dinner plates while a hand reached up and clutched his chest. “Two in a row? I’m gonna need to start watching my sodium intake, or before you know it, you’re gonna make my heart stop beating!”

“Wow… you are such a nerd.”

“Aaaaand it’s gone. Nice job ruining the moment, Keith”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... god dammit keith


	9. Other Side

Keith squinted against the visible heat waves blaring down from the too-bright sun. You would think that literally being able to create and control fire with your own body would at least somehow help manage the intense reaction from the sweltering sun. Apparently not.

He made a mental note to invest in a pair of sunglasses when he had the chance. Or, well, at the very least ask Lance to help him buy some so he doesn’t end up looking like a fashion designer’s worst nightmare. Keith sighed. He promised Lance they would eventually go shopping anyways, so why not.

Pidge walked up to Keith from the porch in her unexpectedly well-kept backyard, stepping through a bush almost as tall as her in doing so, and shoved Keith’s high-tech gloves into his hands.

“You’re one lucky son of a gun, Kogane. Lance is letting you use these gloves in your fight,” she said.

Keith frowned. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it a fight, I mean, it’s just combat training, right?”

Pidge laughed and began tying her sweat-dampened hair up so it wouldn’t stick uncomfortably to the back of her neck. When she finished, she offered an extra hair tie on her wrist to Keith, who quickly declined.

“Yeah, I guess… sure,” Pidge said, pulling the extra hair tie back on to its resting spot on her right wrist. “But Lance never half-asses anything. He’s a go big or go home kinda guy, especially when it’s one-on-one. Chances are, he’s gonna go all out and he’s gonna try his best to win.”

“Well, I’m going to try my best too, I just don’t want to hurt him.” Keith bit his lip in self-disgust, recalling the failed Save the Citizen attempt only a day before.

Pidge clapped Keith reassuringly on the back with a surprising amount of strength.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about hurting him or not,” she said, a mischievous grin spreading her lips wider and twisting her face cruelly. Keith finally understood why Lance chose the nickname ‘gremlin’. It was almost as rightfully named as Pidge’s grin was unsettling.

“Lance is way more than capable of handling himself. You’ve never seen him at his height. Hunk and I have, and we both knew that his actions in Save the Citizen weren’t even close to what he can really do. It’s true that he never really half-asses anything but that doesn’t mean he always tries his best. I’m just hoping he shows you that today.”

Keith blinked in surprise, opening and closing his mouth without sound like a fish out of water.

“W-what? What do you mean he didn’t use his full powers?” he asked incredulously.

“Oh, that’s not for me to say, but I hope you’ll figure it out soon enough. He can be pretty powerful, you know. I once saw him freeze an entire lake in 10 seconds flat.”

“Pidge, you can’t just leave me hanging like this!”

“I’m not leaving you anywhere! I’m just saying he’s cooler than you think he is, and he’s one of my best friends, so you better not mess this up!” she shouted, jabbing Keith in the chest with her finger.

Keith went silent and stared in disbelieve at Pidge’s outburst. Sure, he’s seen her get competitive or be overwhelmingly obnoxious, but he’s never seen her actually yell at someone.

“What do you mean, mess this up?” Keith asked quietly.

Pidge immediately shrunk in on herself and stared at the ground, twiddling her thumbs faster than the human eye could see.

“I have a feeling you aren’t talking about this training exercise…” he said, trailing off.

Pidge looked up and sighed; a long drawn out huff puffing her cheeks out like a chipmunk.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I got a little carried away. It’s just—” she cut off, digging a small hole in the ground with the toe of her shoe as she figured out how to phrase her next sentence.

“Lance is a great guy, you know? He cares so much about his friends and about other people, but people never seem to care as much about him. Of course, Hunk and I would jump in front of a bullet for him and I have no doubt he would do the same for us, but everyone he’s ever loved or tried to love has turned against him or hurt his feelings. I just don’t want that to happen again.”

Keith started to protest- of _course_ he would never hurt Lance intentionally. He wanted nothing more than for Lance to see someone good in him and love him for who he is, but Pidge held up a finger to silence his objection.

“You make him really, really happy, Keith. You haven’t known him for as long as I have, and I haven’t known him for as long as Hunk has, but he wasn’t always this way. You brought out a new side of him and it really is for the better,” she said.

“So don’t screw it up, okay fire boy?” She laughed and elbowed Keith in the ribs. Hard.

Keith smiled through the pain. “I’ll try my best.”

Pidge turned around quickly and gave Keith a full body hug, pressing him tightly against her chest.

“Thank you,” she whispered into his shirt. Keith awkwardly placed his hands on her back and patted once before she pulled away and dramatically wiped fake tears from her eyes.

“But all that mushy stuff aside, I really want you to kick Lance’s ass today. Sometimes his ego is too big for his body. Someone needs to put him in his place,” Pidge stated matter-of-factly.

Keith laughed. “Again, I’ll try my best,” he said.

“So what are you waiting for?” Pidge said, shoving him closer to the open area in the middle of her yard where Lance and Hunk were standing. “Go get him!”

Keith jogged lightly for a few steps, trying to outrun the force of Pidge pushing on his back. After he was free from her grasp, he walked lightly up to Lance and Hunk and stood off to the side, not wanting to disrupt their conversation.

Lance saw him approach out of the corner of his eye and smiled, temporarily blinding Keith. Okay… maybe Keith would need those sunglasses for more than just the sun from now on. That smile was borderline dangerous.

Lance turned and said one final sentence to Hunk, however just enough under his breath that Keith couldn’t hear, before turning to Keith and pulling him to the side.

“You ready to rumble, mullet head?” Lance asked, his eyebrow raised cockily.

“Never been better, ice boy,” Keith responded, flaunting his powers by setting his index finger ablaze and blowing it out in front of Lance’s face.

Lance blinked rapidly, trying to clear the smoke from his eyes before they watered, but failed miserably. His eyes turned red and liquid pooled in the corners before Lance rubbed them away.

“That’s cheating!” Lance complained.

He waved his arms and raised his voice, calling to Hunk and Pidge. “Keith’s a cheater! He tried to blind me before we even started. Can you believe this guy?”

Keith lightly smacked Lance on the head.

“Don’t listen to him!” Keith called over his shoulder, drowning out the wining complains from Lance’s mouth. “He’s a stinkin’ liar!”

“Oh we know!” Pidge called back, snickering.

Lance gasped loudly and threw his hands up in the air.

“Fine! I see how it is. Go ahead and stab me in the back while you’re at it!”

Keith groaned, “Lance, stop being so dramatic.”

“I’ll have you know that ‘dramatic’ is my middle name,” he said.

“I thought it was Maria?” Keith questioned, smirking.

Lance gasped for real this time and flinched like he had been shot.

“W-what? How did you- what do you mean I- who tol—” Lance’s eyes shot wide open. “PIDGE!”

Pidge yelped and ducked behind Hunk.

“Sorry, Lance! He asked!” she yelled.

Lance covered his face with his hands, now flushing a light pink from embarrassment. Keith pulled his hands down and grasped them in his own.

“Lance, it’s not bad. I don’t see why you’re embarrassed!” he said.

Lance tucked his head into the crook between Keith’s shoulder and neck and nuzzled his face forward to shield himself from Keith’s eyes.

“My parents thought I was going to be a girl, okay? They had the name picked out and ready to give it to me when _poof_! Out comes Lance. Very much _not_ a girl. They loved the name so much that they just gave it to me as a middle name,” Lance complained against the fabric of Keith’s shirt.

Keith smiled and tried his hardest to bite down the laughter bubbling in his chest.

“I think it’s kinda cute,” he said. Lance drew back as if burned and wagged a finger in front of Keith’s face.

“Don’t you dare say that in front of my parents, Kogane. They’ll never let me live it down.” He threatened.

Keith hummed in amusement. “If you beat me today, my lips will be sealed.”

Lance smiled and cracked his knuckles.

“Alright, easy enough. You got yourself a deal,” he said.

“But,” Keith added, “If _I_ win, that’s the first thing I’m saying the next time I see them.”

Lance wined, “Keith, _baby_ , my family already loves you. You don’t need to kiss their ass like this!”

“Then you better beat me! A deal is a deal!”

“Fineeee. I’m only agreeing to this because I _know_ I’ll win. You don’t stand a chance.”

“We’ll see about that, sharpshooter.”

“You’re on, samurai.”

Lance backed up around ten paces, while Keith did the same. They glared and held their fists up in a defensive stance, paralleling that of the other.

“You ready?” Lance asked.

“I am, but I know you’re not,” Keith said, waiting for his bait to sink in.

“What do you mean?” Lance gasped, hands falling from his defensive position and raising up in the air in an offended yet questioning motion. “I am always rea—”

Keith used Lance’s momentary distraction and fired a large blast of fire directly at Lance’s chest. He cut off in a yelp and threw his hands back up, creating a shield of ice to protect him right before the fire would have singed him.

“Dude, not fair!” Lance wined, firing a blast of ice from behind his shield only for it to be deflected with Keith’s roaring wall of fire.

“Fighting against villains isn’t fair either. If _I_ can distract you, they’ll beat you to a pulp!” Keith shot back, purposely ignoring Hunk’s story about Lance singlehandedly defeating villains during Sophomore year.

“Fine then!” Lance yelled as he dove out of the way of Keith’s line of fire, rolling and bouncing back up again to reposition himself. “Let’s see what you got, Zuko.”

“Zuko? That’s probably your worst one yet!”

“What do you mean? You’re the hothead, emo brood Zuko, and I’m the gorgeous, funny, powerful, badass Katara.”

“Are you kidding?” Keith scoffed, ducking underneath a jet stream of ice and immediately fired back at Lance, managing to push him off his feet and into the grass.

“If anyone, you’re Sokka. Loud, obnoxious, and terrible at jokes,” Keith said, setting himself up to finish the final blow.

“Excuse you?” Lance did all but shriek. “Can Sokka do _this_?”

Keith didn’t wait to watch Lance perform whatever trick he was about to flaunt and instead sent a firewall of fire upon Lance. Lance watched the fire descend on him and used his hands to push himself off the ground in a sort of flip; his feet flying first into the air and his hands pushing up for his torso to follow in an arc. Before he landed back on the ground, he put his two hands together above his head and sliced through the fire with a short burst of ice.

 Keith was thrown off balance by Lance’s feat of recovery and backed up a few steps before repositioning himself once more.

“I mean, I bet Sokka could do that,” Keith joked, earning a stunned, open-mouthed reaction from Lance. “To be honest, I’ve seen way better.”

“W-what? Are you kidding?” Lance cried. “That flip was Karate Kid worthy! And Sokka doesn’t even have powers!”

“Then start acting like _you_ do!”

“Hey, losers!” Pidge called from the sidelines, startling Lance and Keith out of their bickering trance. “Stop your flirting and fight already! I’m getting bored!”

“As you wish, milady,” Lance grunted, dropping to the ground and placing both hands on the grass.

Keith barely had a second to react, but before Lance could create a trail of ice to freeze Keith to the ground, he shot fire up from his hands and flew into the air. Just in time, too, because as soon as Keith’s feet left the grass, a thick layer of ice spread to the exact place his toes were only a moment ago.

Keith focused on his fire and propelled himself over the top of Lance’s head. Lance looked up in astonishment but quickly wiped the look off his face and got ready for the moment Keith landed back on the ground again.

Keith laughed, watching Lance prepare himself, and instead fired a round of fire balls at Lance’s head. Lance brought his hands up and stopped them with his own powers, but not before sending a piercing glare in Keith’s direction.

“All’s fair in love and war, baby!” Keith yelled, using one hand to lower himself to the ground and one to fire an endless stream of fire at Lance. Lance yelped and tried to dive out of the way, but the tail end of his shirt caught on fire and he was forced to pause and extinguish it.

While Lance was sidetracked with his shirt, Keith put both of his hands together and created a growing ball of fire in his palms. Right before Lance turned his attention back to Keith, he fired the ball at him, but opted to go for another endless stream instead as the fireball turned into a line of fire through the air.

Lance brought both his hands up to his face and shielded himself with an X made by his arms coated in ice, but was still pushed back by the sheer force of Keith’s blow. His feet skidded against the ground, tearing up grass and pushing him even further back. Lance bit his bottom lip and groaned in discomfort. If Keith was going to keep up this wave of fire, there was no way Lance could get a hand free to fire ice at him.

Slowly kneeling to the ground, all while still keeping his arms in an X shape, he let his right knee rest against the grass in a lunge. They were caught in a stalemate, one end forcing Lance to keep his arms up and essentially useless behind a wall of fire, and on the other end, Keith had to focus all his efforts on keeping Lance trapped.

Lance closed his eyes and bit his lip harder, tasting blood. His hands curled into tightened fists, the nails on his slim fingers digging into the soft skin in the middle of his palms. There was still a way to beat Keith. It was risky, but maybe it was worth it?

If he used _that_ side of his powers now, nobody would know, right? Keith’s fire was enveloping everything, surely Pidge and Hunk wouldn’t see, and Keith would think Lance just found a way to get one of his hands out from behind his ice shield. Plus, Lance was not going to let Keith get the better of him on a one-on-one fight. _No way, José._

It’ll be fine. He could do this.

Lance let part of his mind wander while his subconscious still held his ice shield up strong. His mind followed the trail of fire to its owner, almost lazily, and traced the outline of air around his feet. Lance could feel the area where Keith’s feet touched the ground, the grass crumpled beneath his shoes and the air molecules in between his feet and the ground pressed together.  He could feel the water in the grass, the water in the air, and all of it combined in one condensed area.

Lance focused harder and willed the ice to form, slowly at first, but once he was sure the ice was forming in the exact place Lance needed, it grew quicker and thicker. All at once, ice had swallowed Keith’s feet and cemented them in place.

Lance’s full consciousness snapped back onto itself in one quick movement, and he felt the exact second where Keith’s attention started to waver. Keith’s fire fell away from Lance and he instead struggled against the icy bond around his ankles.

“What the heck!” he yelled, twisting his body left and right while trying to break free.

Lance watched Keith swivel back and forth while he jumped to his feet. He ran to Keith and placed his fingertips against the ice at the bottom of his feet, and brought his hands up, the ice following the movement. When he was done, Lance stepped back and admired his handiwork.

An ice statue stood before him, or, more accurately, an ice statue of Keith. Inside, Keith’s eyes and mouth were frozen open, his eyebrows stuck raised to comical levels. Lance laughed and doubled over, one hand clutching his stomach and one hand pressing down on his knee to keep himself upright.

“Well, I think I win!” Lance shouted gleefully, giving the frozen Keith statue an over exaggerated punch to the shoulder.

“Laaahnce… guhht mh outuha hherrre…” Keith mumbled from inside.

“What was that?” Lance replied, holding a hand to his ear. “You’re cutting out, I can’t hear you.”

“Murffh,” Keith’s muffled voice attempted what was possibly a failed snarky reply.

Lance laughed once again as he saw Pidge and Hunk run at him from the side of the yard.

“Hey guys,” he winked. “Coming to check out my newest art piece?”

He stepped to the side and swooped his arms next to him as to display Keith and his still-frozen form.

“It’s going to be a classic, I’m telling you. I think I’m gonna call it, ‘Frozen in Defeat’. You guys should be truly blessed to see it before I release it to the public. The people are gonna love it—”

“MURRFFFHH!”

“Yes, of course, I mean the people are gonna love _you_ ,” Lance smirked.

Pidge and Hunk stared wide eyed at Lance, their mouths open and their jaws practically touching the ground.

“Lance, how did you do that?” Pidge asked ludicrously.

The smile slipped ever so slightly from the corners of Lance’s mouth. “I-I mean, I just ran up and froze him, it wasn’t hard…”

“No, we saw _that_ part!” Pidge said, “I’m talking about how you froze Keith without touching him!”

In one sudden splash, all the ice surrounding Keith turned to water and cascaded down his body like a waterfall, soaking his clothes and everyone else’s shoes. Keith gasped and drew in a much-needed breath, his hands on his knees.

When he recovered, Keith turned to Lance and saw that his smile was completely gone, wiped clean and replaced by the shadow of an extremely pale ghost.

“That’s impossible, Lance. Hunk and I saw both of your hands trapped behind Keith’s fire. There was no way you could have gotten one hand free to shoot ice at his feet. What happened?”

“… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lance whispered nervously.

“Hold up, what’s going on?” Keith asked, stepping forward and not missing the way Lance visibly flinched away from his approach.

“Lance froze you without touching you!” Pidge said.

“Uh, okay? But he definitely touched me. Didn’t you guys see him run up to me?”

“We did, but he froze your feet before that part. Don’t you remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I guess he did. But he just fired ice at my feet, right? I… I couldn’t see from behind the fire.”

“No, no. Both of his hands were trapped. That means he froze you with his _mind_ , not his hands,” Pidge said.

Keith turned to Lance quizzically, who had his arms wrapped around his torso and a miserable expression etched into every line on his face.

“What does this mean?” Keith asked aloud, directing the question at Lance but knowing he wouldn’t be the one to respond.

“Well, elemental powers are some of the most powerful abilities, but in order to keep some sort of balance between them and others, the element produced has to come from within the energy source of the body. That’s why, Keith, when you use your powers, it is a direct result of a process that happens within yourself. You can only create fire from your hands or other parts of your body since that’s where your energy is stored,” Pidge explained.

“Lance can do this, as we’ve seen him freeze stuff with his hands many times before… but we’ve never seem him create ice with his _mind_. Nobody has _ever_ been able to do that, not even the most powerful elemental heroes,” Pidge gawked.

“So,” Keith’s mouth formed oddly around the bitter taste in his tongue. “What you’re saying is Lance has some crazy part of his power that lets him make ice without touching anything? He could freeze and kill one of us just standing here if he wanted to and there’s nothing we could do about it?”

Lance bit back a pitiful whine of hurt, tears squeezing out of the corners of his eyes. “Please,” he croaked just under the air of his breath. “Please…”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Keith spat, the venom in his voice practically palpable. It came out harsher than he intended, but Keith was more than upset in how Lance had been lying to him all this time. Every time Lance showed weakness or expressed his concerns about the use of his powers, it was all a ploy. Feigned innocence, pretend comfort.

Lance’s eyes drifted up to Keith’s but stopped under the curve of his cheekbone, unable to bring himself to look at whatever anger and betray rested within his darkened irises.

“I was hoping you’d never find out,” he whispered, his voice catching on the last syllable.

It was as if a gallon of gasoline was dumped on Keith’s flames of anger, sending them roaring sky high. Heat licked the inside of his palms inside his curled fists. He could feel his face tingling, turning just as red as his fire.

“What else have you lied to us about? Or decided not to tell us?” Keith shot. “Were those stories you told me even real? Did you ever have trouble controlling your powers at all or did you make up some bullshit sob story to get me to trust you? We promised we would tell each other everything, but, turns out, you told me _nothing_!”

Tears streaked down Lance’s cheeks, sobs catching themselves in his throat.

“Lies. It was all lies.” Keith said coldly.

“Keith, please, I would never hurt you and I didn’t lie, I just didn’t want you to be afraid of me,” Lance pleaded.

Keith crossed his arms and studied the boy he once trusted with everything he had. All of it was gone. He thought Lance was different. Someone he could rely on and put his faith into. Someone… someone who would never leave him.

“Too late, you already have,” Keith’s voice was as cold as Lance’s ice. “Did you… did you ever even love me?”

Lance gasped as his arms twitched, fighting the urge to caress Keith’s cheeks and calm his flush of anger. “Of course! Keith, you have to believe me, I would nev—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Lance,” Keith cut him off. “How can I be with the one person I thought treated me as an equal, yet all this time you were miles ahead while you left me behind and pretended you didn’t? I loved- I _thought-_ I loved you…”

Keith took one last look at the pathetic mess quivering before him. He should have never gotten involved, never gotten attached. It was his fault, really. Trusting someone he had only known for a few months. He needed to leave before the lies piled up and caused an impassible void between them. Everyone he has ever known has left him first, but not this time. This time, Keith would be the one to come out on top, no matter the price.

Tears of anger seared the corners of his vision and turned them too watery to see straight. He spun on his heel and stormed away, never once looking back behind him.

Lance watched Keith’s retreat. The way his black shirt folded in on itself in certain spots with every step he took. How his shoes kicked up little bits of grass when he dug his toe in deeper to the grass. How his hair flowed ever so slightly to the left and right with the swaying motion produced by his stride.

All of that… was gone to him… forever.

A sob tore it’s way free from deep within Lance’s chest as he sunk to his knees. Tears continued to stream down his face and Lance watched with blurry vision as they dropped from his chin to the grass below.

He tucked his head between his thighs and cried. Cried that his friends knew some dark part of him that could be used for evil way too easily. Cried because he knew he couldn’t be trusted anymore. Cried that he had betrayed those closest to him even though he was just trying to protect them.

Cried because in the end, he lost the boy he loved.

Warm hands encased his shoulders, squeezing him tight and anchoring him back to reality. They pulled him to his feet and suddenly he was wrapped in the tightest sandwich hug he has ever been between. He buried his face into the shoulder in front of him and nuzzled in closer, whispering apology after apology.

“Don’t be sorry, Lance. We know you did what you thought was best. Keith will understand,” Hunk reassured.

“Yeah, it must be scary to realize you can do stuff nobody has been able to do before,” Pidge added. “But we’ll help you through it. We’re your friends, Lance, and we would never stop believing in you.”

“But, Keith…” Lance choked.

“Give him time,” Hunk said. “Keith will come around. It was just such a shock to him. He thinks you’re someone different now than he thought you were, but Pidge and I know you’ve never been more _you_ since the day you met him.”

“Do you want us to talk to him for you?” Pidge asked. Lance shook his head back and forth. He didn’t want to force Keith to like him now. If Keith truly hated him, then that was what Lance deserved.

“Well… do you want us to help you figure out how to use these powers? I take it you’ve never tried to use them before since you were scared to.”

Lance scoffed bitterly, “Yeah, _tried_ to. Doesn’t mean I haven’t used them on accident before. Keith wasn’t wrong when he said I lied to him. I said I froze my brother’s hand when he was touching me, but he was really at the other side of the room when… when I…” Lance trailed off, fresh tears brimming.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay!” Hunk squeezed Lance tighter. “We’ll work with you and make sure you have full control over it, okay? You don’t have to be scared to show us what you can do.”

Lance felt a warm rush of calm wash over his mind like the waves of a gentle tide pool, and he realized Hunk was using his powers to make him relaxed. Lance laughed airily and closed his eyes.

Maybe his friends knowing what he could do was actually a good thing. It’s not like they were strangers to weird situations. One of his best friends could read and almost control minds while his other could control metal and bring her creations to life. Whatever they went through, they did it together, almost always remaining victorious.

“Thank you,” Lance said. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, dude,” Pidge piped up.

“Of course, Lance. That’s what friends are for,” Hunk smiled down at him.

Lance hugged his friends back and mentally thanked whatever higher power might exist that the universe blessed him with these two amazing people.

\--

The moonlight shone casually through his opened window as Lance rolled to his side once more, the sheets tangling around his feet as he found a new cold spot on the bed. His alarm clock shone in front of his eyes, the “3:41 am” lights mocking his inability to fall asleep. Restless nights weren’t uncommon, but ones lying awake in self-loathing were not usually the norm.

He exhaled, a large and very audible sigh rushing past his lips. He promised Pidge that tomorrow he would test out _that_ side over his powers and let his friends help him control them more. Hunk had ended up texting Shiro and letting him know why Keith was upset, but Hunk never heard back from either of them.

Lance was scared something bad was going to happen, and he wouldn’t even have Keith there to combat his ice if it really came down to it. He was also scared that Keith would end up coming and would confirm the theory that Lance was dangerous. Keith didn’t deserve the weight of that looming over his shoulder, and Lance certainty didn’t want to force that weight to remain there in the first place.

He stared at his ceiling and regretted everything that happened that day. If only he could go back in time and erase that day from existence, everything could go back to the way it was. He hoped when he awoke, the world wouldn’t exist anymore. He hoped and he hoped.

And he cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it may not seem like that other side of lance's powers are a big deal, but i can assure you .... it's a pretty big deal. also keith kinda acted crazy when he found out but he's just upset that lance lied. everything will work itself out .... maybe .... (: i hope my slightly longer than normal chapter makes up for the inconsistency in uploading ! i don't ask for this much but if you enjoyed this chapter please hit that "kudos" button or leave a comment !! thanks so much everyone :)


	10. Misunderstanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was originally intended to be combined with the next one, but I decided to split it to give more attention to the brotherly bonding moment that was so desperately needed. I also removed the /16 on the chapter numbers, because I'm not quite sure if I'm going to be cutting previously planned chapters out to make the story shorter or adding chapters to make it longer. I really want to write an epilogue at the end and I had originally not planned to do so, so I hope that with enough positive feedback, I will find the time to make one. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

 

The last thing Keith wanted to do was tell Shiro what happened earlier that day outside the Holt’s house.

Shiro had previously expressed his opinions on Lance, both the good and the bad. He had told Keith that Lance was a little full of himself and never backed away from an opportunity to stir competition between him and his classmates, but he also said Lance was one of the most genuine and kind-hearted people he had ever had the pleasure to counsel.

Walking home from the Holt’s backyard to Shiro’s house was at least a 45-minute walk, if not an hour. Keith knew this, which is why he opted to walk instead of call Shiro to pick him up.

Even with the long walk, Keith took as much time as possible, stalling once for at least 20 minutes when he passed an abandoned playground and sat aimlessly on a creaky swing. Swaying back and forth and lost in his own thoughts, Keith wondered if he could stay here forever.

Surrounded by trees, the music of rusted toys and chimes from soft breezes echoing around him, creating a symphony of abandonment. Living out the rest of his life here wouldn’t be so bad. Better than facing Shiro and his friends when the time came, at least.

If he could even still call them that.

His… friends.

Keith chuckled bitterly to himself, standing up and leaving the playground behind him just like he left Lance. Yeah, sure. _Friends_. Friends who lied and kept secrets. Friends, even the one he thought was more than his friend, who didn’t think to tell him about such a life-changing secret.

The rest of the walk back to Shiro’s house was stiff and careless, unlike before, which was lazy and cautious. Why bother pushing off the inevitable, since now it wouldn’t result in anything different? Nothing he talked about with Shiro could hurt him any more than he was hurting now. Your heart can’t ache for something after it has already been ripped ruthlessly from your chest.

When Keith came back to his senses, he was standing in front of the blue painted, wooden door that led to the front of Shiro’s house. Looking up, he saw how the sky was now dark and scattered stars shone faintly, but the scarce light from the waning moon was not enough to provide easy sight.

Keith sighed and knocked three times on the door, stepping back slightly when done and began to wait. Not even seconds later, the door swung open and a frantic Shiro stood before him.

“Where were you?” Shiro strained to keep his voice down although his chest was heaving rapidly, “I thought you went to the Holt’s house to practice your powers, but then Hunk texted me something about you storming off and I didn’t want to reply until you came home since I wanted to understand what happened but then you weren’t here and your phone was going to voicemail and I was _this_ close to calling Hunk back and figuring out why you left so suddenly but—”

“Shiro, I’m fine. I’m not a kid anymore, I can look after myself,” Keith cut in, shoving himself into the doorway and past Shiro’s outstretched arms. Before he could make it through, Shiro stuck his arm out and placed it firmly against the doorframe, preventing Keith from sulking upstairs and disappearing into his room.

“Woah, woah, woah. No need for the attitude, Keith. You can’t blame me for being worried. This is the first time something like this has happened,” Shiro fired back. “Do you… do you want to talk about it?”

Keith grunted under his breath and shook his head, staring down at his toes. When Shiro didn’t move his arm away or respond, Keith looked up and saw Shiro staring down at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“Hmmm….” Shiro thought aloud, “I think we _are_ going to talk about this.”

“What the hell, Shiro! You can’t tell me what to do.” Keith swatted Shiro’s arm away and shoved him to the side in order to get around him and head to the stairs.

Shiro jumped away at the contact, hissing slightly as he drew his arm back and looked down to see a red burn in the shape of a handprint start to swell upon his skin. Keith didn’t even seem to notice this as he spat out another wave of horrible words.

“You’re not my dad, and you’re not even really my brother. I don’t need to tell you _anything_.”

Shiro froze, his mouth clamping shut and his glare sending cold daggers into Keith’s skin. Keith immediately felt bad, but returned Shiro’s icy glare with twice as much force, refusing to give in.

Suddenly, a wave of darkness washed over Keith and engulfed him in a sea of nothingness. However, as soon as his senses had left, they returned, and Keith found himself tied tightly to a chair in Shiro’s kitchen.

“Wha- Shiro! How _dare_ you use your powers on me, you asshole! Let me go!” Keith struggled against his ties and even tried to set either the chair or the rope on fire, but the chair was metal and the rope was covered in some sort of flame resistant material. This only caused Keith to struggle harder.

Keith shook and groaned in frustration, fighting his binds for at least a few minutes before slumping in defeat and leaning his head back against the chair.

“Shiro. Get me out of here,” Keith demanded, lifting his head back up and swiveling it as much to the side as he could. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shiro standing behind him in the kitchen, wrapping his newly salved arm in clean bandages.

Shiro sighed and taped his bandages tightly together, before slowly packing up the first aid equipment and placing it back under the cupboard below the sink. He walked over, pulling a stray chair from the table, and dragged it noisily until he placed it in front of Keith.

He paused for a moment, his hand laying gently upon the back of the chair, before he flopped down and placed his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees.

Keith just stared at his brother before him. Oh God, his _brother_. Keith had just gotten angry and called him anything _but_ a brother, and although they weren’t related by blood, Keith knew deep down that they were definitely a family. _What did he do?_

Keith mentally smacked himself upside the head for losing his temper so easily. He bit his lip and let his eyes wander, following the distressed lines of Shiro’s bicep all the way down to his forearm where stark white bandages circled his skin. A moment of confusion mingled in between the spaces of guilt in his mind, before he was struck dead in the face with realization.

He had _burned_ Shiro.

“Sh—,” Keith choked on his own dry throat. He swallowed, and tried again. “Shiro I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

Shiro looked Keith in the eye, his gaze unwavering.

“Sorry for what you said or what you did?” he asked.

Keith scrunched his eyes closed. “All of it.”

“Keith, I don’t blame you for what happened. You got angry and defensive and your powers acted on your own. It happens to the best of us,” Shiro said.

“Bu- but what I said, too, I didn’t mean it. I know it was wrong and it was wrong to bur—”

“I never said what you did was _right_ , I just said I don’t blame you and that you shouldn’t blame yourself. Besides, you can’t go around hating your powers. We can’t have you reverting to the angry, scared, little kid you were when I first found you, can we?” Shiro chuckled lightly.

Keith twitched his head in the ghost of a nod, his mouth set in a hard line.

“I’m going to take off the binds, but you have to promise to have a civil conversation with me or I’ll put you back in them before you can even move,” Shiro warned.

“I promise,” Keith said. Darkness cascaded over his vision once more, before looking down at his hands and wringing his newly freed wrists in circles.

“You know, you didn’t have to use your powers for that. You could have untied them yourself,” Keith joked feebily.

“Hey, it’s been a long night. Don’t blame me for not having the energy to get up and untie those probably _very_ secure knots,” Shiro laughed in response.

“So you don’t have enough energy to untie me like a normal person but you have enough energy to use your powers? Sounds about right.”

“Hey. Lack of motivation and lack of strength are two different things. You know that.”

“Yeah, yeah, you lazy ass,” Keith huffed.

“Alright, you caught me. I plead guilty to being lazy, that much I can admit. Is there anything you would like to admit to while we’re at it?” Shiro questioned, leaning forward ever so slightly.

“I’d rather not…” Keith said under his breath, trailing off.

“Well, after I made sure you would wake up tied to the chair, I ended up calling Hunk. I just wanted to know the gist of what happened in case you decided to be uncooperative. He explained that something went down while you were at the Holt’s house and while you and Lance were fighting. Is that true?”

Keith nodded almost unperceptively.

“Hunk said Lance did… something unique with his powers that you guys have never seen before. That even I’ve never seen or heard of before, if I’m going to be honest. Hunk explained the best he could, but I decided to ask you to fill in the rest of the details,” Shiro explained, clearly inviting Keith to tell his side of the story.

Keith looked up and Shiro and sighed, his hands falling limp into his lap.

“We were fighting, and I was about to win, until Lance froze my feet and caught me off guard. He ran up and trapped me in an ice statue, and once he melted the ice, Pidge and Hunk told me he didn’t touch my feet when he froze them the first time,” Keith paused, earning an encouraging nod from Shiro in response. Keith took a deep breath and continued.

“They told me that he… he somehow… he used his _mind_ to freeze me? I don’t even understand it. We’ve always needed to use our hands or- or some part of our body to use our powers. I’ve never even _thought_ about setting something on fire without touching it. That- It… that doesn’t just _happen_. People can’t just _do_ that. Freeze things with their mind. That’s insane!” Keith was fuming, smoke coming out of his ears, and no, not just metaphorical smoke.

Shiro hummed in response, pinching the bridge of his nose and self-consciously tracing the outline of his scar. “So what you’re telling me is you got mad that he now has some crazy power that nobody has ever even heard of before, and you’re scared he could have hurt or killed one of you with no chance of defending yourself?”

“What? I- no! Lance would never just hurt one of us. He may not always tell the truth, but I don’t think he wants to, you know… kill someone,” Keith replied defensively.

“That’s funny,” Shiro said. “Because Hunk told me that’s exactly what you said. You got angry that Lance had the ability to hurt or kill one of you and there would be nothing you could do to stop it.”

“But—,”

“Keith, just _listen_ to me. I can tell now that you’re just upset in how Lance lied to you. But have you thought that maybe he was trying to protect you? Imagine what would happen if you knew your powers could be even more dangerous than you think they are right now. From what I know, both you and Lance struggled with your powers growing up. How does this new revelation make his situation any different?”

“I would have told someone! I would have told you, maybe told Lance and the others…” Keith tried to convince both Shiro and himself that this was the truth.

“No, Keith. I don’t think you would have. I think you would have pretended that side of you didn’t exist and you would have never used that power in front of yourself, much less anyone else. I know you’re upset and angry that Lance didn’t tell you, and that you think you had the right to know, but you need to think about this from Lance’s point of view.”

“But Lance could have figured out how to use this power, he could have gotten our help if he told us sooner!”

“And let’s say he did tell you sooner. What would your reaction have been? Would it have been any different? Does Lance know every single thing about your life? About your childhood, about how I saved you, about what type of villains your parents were and how they treated you so poorly?”

Keith sucked in a pained breath through his teeth.

“You weren’t even the one to tell Lance about your parents, that sidekick Lotor did. How long would it have taken for you to tell Lance that? Hmm?”

“I… I don’t know,” Keith said.

“Exactly. You tried to hide a part of yourself that you didn’t want Lance to see. That doesn’t mean you’re a different person before you told him versus after you told him, but you just wanted to protect him from your past. So don’t back Lance into a corner of double standards, because that’s anything but fair.”

Keith exhaled through his nose and tried to ignore the burning behind his eyes.

“You said it yourself that you know Lance would never hurt you. You’re not scared of his power, you’re just upset at his actions. The way you made it sound, it seemed like you were not only angry at him, but you couldn’t be around him without fear of him unleashing some godly strength and decimating half a hemisphere.”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Keith gasped in shock.

“I know you didn’t, but _Lance_ doesn’t know that. I’m sure he’s scared of his own power and he’s projecting his own feelings onto what he thinks you might be feeling. I know Lance hurt you. I know you struggle with trusting others. But don’t let something like this completely strip you of your friends and isolate you from the few people I’ve seen that can make you happy. It’s not fair to Lance or to yourself,” Shiro finished.

Keith blinked once, biting his bottom lip. He should say something… he should… he…

_What should he do?_

The severity of the situation plummets from the sky with the speed and force of a meteorite and nearly pins him flat against the ground. Lance probably hates him for storming off, or at least thinks Keith can’t stand to be around him.

 _No!_ It’s not like that! Keith can’t get _enough_ of Lance! He was just shocked when he found out, that was all! He was sacred of lies, and upset, and angry, but that doesn’t mean he’s afraid of or hates Lance!

“Oh God, Shiro. Shiro what do I do?” Keith turned to Shiro for answers, clasping Shiro’s hands tightly between his own.

“I don’t want to lose him Shiro. Please tell me what to do,” he begged, burying his face into Shiro’s black, cotton shirt.

Shiro placed his hand on Keith’s head and pulled him close. “I can’t give you all the answers, Keith. You’ll have to figure out the best way to make it up to him. You know him better than I do. But just be honest in how you feel,” he reassured.

Shiro wrapped his arms tightly around Keith’s back and held him tightly. Keith’s arms lay limply at his sides, his hands shaking just as much as his body from all the contained emotion. Finally, Keith brought his arms up and hugged him back, giving in to the comforting warmth.

“I do have an idea, though,” Shiro said once they had pulled away from one another. “Hunk told me how him and Pidge were going to help Lance with his powers tomorrow morning at the Holt’s house again. Maybe you can meet them there and apologize then? And maybe help out a little bit?”

Keith stiffened. He didn’t really want an audience when trying to apologize to Lance, but he supposed having friends there to support him could only help him, not make it worse.

“Yeah. I think I’ll try that,” Keith said.

“Good,” Shiro sighed in relief. “I was afraid you would just text him or send him an online apology instead of telling him in person. Good to know you can handle important stuff like this in person.”

“Hey! I wasn’t going to text him!” Keith countered, punching Shiro in the arm.

“I wasn’t sure! Remember that time you told me my hamster died through snapchat? While I was at work? I almost broke down in front of Allura and her students!”

“How should I have known you would be so upset! You’re supposed to be an adult!”

“I _am_ an adult, thank you very much. Becoming an adult doesn’t mean you suddenly lose all emotional connections to things, especially pet hamsters as cute as Buster!” Shiro complained.

“Fine, whatever! I’m going to bed before you can pester me and my way of handling interpersonal communications anymore.” Keith shot.

Shiro held his hands up in defeat. “Whatever you say. I’ll make sure you’re up in time to leave for the Holt’s house tomorrow morning, okay? No backing out of this one.”

“I won’t,” Keith promised this to the both of them.

“See ya then. Goodnight, Keith.”

“Night, Shiro.”

\--

The moonlight shone casually through his closed window as Keith readjusted his pillow and sunk back into its warmth. He reached out and tapped his phone to see what time it was, the “3:41 am” lights blinking back in return.

In just a few hours, he was going to make everything right. No matter what happened, Keith wouldn’t stop until things were back to the way they were. He was not losing someone who meant so much to him. He was _not_.

Keith stared at ceiling and regretting everything that happened that day. But it did happen, and he couldn’t change the past. Keith knew now, though, that no matter the past, he had the chance to fix the future. He hoped and he hoped.

And he smiled.

Because tomorrow he would be back at Lance’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> go get him, keith


	11. Play it Cool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the wait in between chapters! exams and finals have been a huge part of my life recently, but classes end in less than a month so this story should be completed very quickly afterwards! thanks for sticking with me!
> 
> tw// color references of blood at the very end of the chapter

“…ce.”

_Keith wasn’t coming back._

“…ance?”

_It was all his fault. Why didn’t he just tell him? He should have just told him._

“Lance!”

Lance jolted to attention, flinching backwards after seeing two faces peer directly into his.

“I- wha- Yes! Yes, I'm good! Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

“Lance, are you okay?” Hunk asked, his eyebrows furrowed. “You totally zoned out for like, at least a minute.”

Lance waved him off haphazardly, “I’m fine, I’m just getting in the zone for training today! Gotta get those mental gears turnin', you know?”

He tried for a half smile, but it melted away before it even solidified a place on his lips. Hunk frowned and placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Hey, man. Don’t worry about Keith, okay? You guys will work it out, you always do. Maybe he’ll even show up today to watch you train!” Hunk said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

Lance flinched and ducked out from under Hunk’s embrace.

“No, nuh uh. No way. There’s no way I’m letting Keith come and see me mess up and confirm all the terrible thoughts he probably already has about me,” Lance said, waving his hands around carelessly, as if to fan away the awful thoughts brewing in his head.

At this, Hunk’s eyes darted away from Lance’s face and grimaced painfully. Lance squinted his eyes and peered at Hunk.

“What’s wrong? You look like you just ate a lemon or something,” Lance laughed weakly. “Come on, dude, you can’t blame me for not wanting Keith to think I’m some sort of freak. Well, I mean, I probably am but that doesn’t mean I want _him_ to know that. But I guess he already does know and now he’ll never talk to me and I pushed away the _one_ person I’ve ever comfortable expressing myself around- well, besides you, but you know I mean this in a romantic sort of context- and I never thought Keith would be scared of me but _here I am_ just accidentally freezing everything and making everyone I love hate me and now he’ll never talk to me and _ohmygodHunkwhatdoIdo_!”

Lance gasped for air, looking up and still seeing that stupid twinge of embarrassment and apology pinned to Hunk’s face.

“Hunk, my man, sorry to scare you but it’ll all be fine as long as Keith doesn’t come here and see me inevitably fuck everything up, okay?”

Hunk’s eyes flickered back down to Lance’s before looking back up again at something behind Lance, just over his shoulder.

“Uh, sorry buddy, but I’m not quite sure you have a say in the matter.”

Lance’s head spun around against his control, before gasping inaudibly and taking shaky steps backwards. A car had pulled up on the corner of the street and was letting its passenger out onto the Holt’s lawn. This passenger could have been anyone, really, but Lance’s deepest fears were confirmed when a boy with a tangled mop of a mullet stepped out of the car and slowly began his descent down to Hunk and Lance. 

“Hunk!” Lance screeched in a shouting whisper, ducking behind his best friend. “Why did you tell him we were going to be here!”

“I’m sorry Lance! It was just, Shiro asked where you were going to be because Keith wants to talk to you, and I can’t just say no to Mr. Shirogane! You know I don’t like disobeying authority figures!”

Lance spluttered, his lips suddenly forgetting how to form basic English sentences, “Th- that doesn’t mean- You could have said- I didn’t want- HUNK!”

Lance planted his face into the back of Hunk’s shirt and wished on every higher power that may exist that Keith would change his mind and turn back. Step back into the car and drive away forever. No matter how much it pained Lance, he knew Keith was much better off without someone who lied and kept secrets.

Lance groaned into the soft fabric of Hunk’s shirt.

“Why does the universe hate me,” he mumbled, finally peeling himself away from his friend and contemplating an escape. Maybe Keith hadn’t seen him yet? Maybe he could just back away, very slowly, and Keith would never know he was here!

Lance took a few slow, calculated, careful steps backwards, hoping to sneak away from the possible commotion which only grew more plausible with every step Keith took towards them. Making sure to keep Hunk in between him and Keith, Lance managed to prevent Keith from seeing him as he made his way further and further backwards.

He was _so_ close to the edge of the yard. The tree line was about to be the most heavenly sanctuary in which Lance could make his escape without worry of being seen. _Just a little bit more…_

“Lance!” Pidge called as she walked down her deck and onto the yard.

Lance froze, his composure fracturing in hairlines all over his body. Hunk had turned around at the call of Lance’s name, and in doing so, allowed Keith to have a clear view of Lance’s attempted escape.

 “Lance!” she called again. “I need you to come put on these sensors so I can monitor your heart r— oh… hi Keith.”

She stopped, her eyes darting back and forth between the frozen Lance and the apprehensive Keith. Keith had stopped moving closer to Lance and Lance had stopped trying to escape into the forest, but neither of them were moving closer to the other. Stuck in a stalemate of horror.

“Well,” she said, “Hunk and I have to finish setting up all the equipment for today’s training so…”

She darted forward and dragged a surprised Hunk back to the house and pulled both of them inside, despite Lance’s widened eyes begging her not to leave.

“We’re just going to finish this stuff up reallll quick. You kids play nice now!” She said, before slamming the door shut and leaving Lance and Keith alone with nothing but the sounds of the birds and wind to accompany them.

They stood in silence for a few moments, Lance refusing to look up into the probably horrified and disappointed eyes of someone who could never love Lance again. Someone whose trust was betrayed and someone who deserved so much better.

 Lance wanted nothing more than to disappear forever, leaving behind nothing left of him, not even the clothes on his back. Honestly, if he never even existed in the first place couldn’t be worse than what he was feeling right now.

Keith eventually made the first move and took a tentative step forward, earning a flinch backwards from Lance.

“…Lance?” Keith asked, trying to make his words as soft and welcoming as possible. Lance, however, still heard a clip of something else hiding underneath the sugar-coated sweetness of his manner. Fear, anger, or maybe something worse, strained Keith’s voice and tainted his tone.

Lance had always been good at reading people, and Keith was no exception. Lance had known that Keith struggled with his powers. He had known that Keith had family issues growing up. He had known that Keith would be hard to get to open up. That it would take a lot for Keith to trust someone. And that he would trust so strongly when he did.

And Lance had broken that trust.

He painstakingly built up this trust over the course of multiple months and yet somehow managed to shatter it with one fist within the span of only a few minutes.

Lance didn’t deserve a second chance. He didn’t deserve... Keith.

“Go away,” Lance said, the coldness in his tone surprising even himself. If Keith wasn’t going to accept that Lance was someone who could only hurt him, then he would have to make Keith believe it.

“Lance, we need to talk,” Keith begged, that ever-present hint of fear still laced into his words.

The hairline fissures cracking across Lance’s composure stretched inwards a little more with every second that ticked by. They were consuming him, breaking him down and threatening to destroy the last layer of façade in which Lance had managed to keep intact, preventing the dam inside him to rupture and cascade out.

Lance knew what Keith was going to say. He was going to either drop the ball as lightly as possible, probably saying something along the lines of how he couldn’t be with someone who spoke only lies, someone as dangerous as Lance. Or maybe he would feel an obligation to help Lance and control this evil lurking within, all the while terrified of Lance and dreading every moment spent by his side.

Lance didn’t want Keith to pity him or fear him, although that was, more likely than not, completely inevitable. Keith didn’t deserve that. He deserved so much. So much _better_.

“Lance, please,” Keith said once again.

“What is there to talk about?” Lance replied, still refusing to look Keith in the eyes. “I lied to you. You know what I can do now. I could _hurt_ you. I get it, you’re angry and upset and I know I have no place to ask this of you, but please… I don’t think I can- I don’t—”. Lance cut off, choking on a sob.

“I can’t hear you tell me that you hate me now because it would absolutely kill me. I know you don’t feel the same way, but I don’t want you to ever be hurt by me because I lo- I lov—.” His voice cracked, weakening his fissures even more. They broke apart his body and tore at him from the inside out. He couldn’t say the words he wanted to. He couldn’t burden Keith with his emotions, especially when he knew his feeling won’t be reciprocated.

“Lance… I…”  Keith whispered.

“Keith, please don’t.”

“But I—”

“Keith! Please!” Lance’s fissures deepened even more.

Lance could feel Keith’s eyes on the back of his head, but he still refused to look up. If he never saw Keith, maybe he could pretend none of this had happened. Maybe he could go on with his life and forget he destroyed his relationship with someone he would sacrifice everything for.

“Lance,” Keith tried again, ignoring Lance’s pleads.

Lance’s plan of forgetting everything about Keith failed when he heard that previous fear bubble up from the depths of Keith’s voice and float to the surface. The fear was so strong and so overwhelming that Lance let out an involuntary whine of pain at it. _He_ did this to Keith. He made Keith hurt like this, fear like this. He could never forget that voice. He could never forgive himself for what he did. His fissures grew.

“I love you.”

The fissures broke.

Lance shattered.

Piece by piece, Lance’s composure fell away and the dam hiding behind his walls surged forwards. Tears erupted from his eyes, streaking quickly down his face and staining his pale shirt a darker shade of blue. He crumpled to the ground and faintly felt the freshly-cut grass tickle the skin exposed around his ankle. The fear in Keith's voice wasn't about Lance, it was about telling him that Keith loved him. Keith  _loved_ him.

“Lance!” Keith shouted, rushing forward and grabbing hold of Lance’s shaky shoulders. “Lance what’s wrong?”

Lance told his body to turn away and refuse any comfort being provided by Keith. Unfortunately, his heart rarely listened to his head, and Lance tucked his face into the crevice beneath Keith’s shoulder. He cried and he cried, ugly, wet sobs only barely muffled by Keith’s shirt.

“I don’t—,” Lance hiccupped. “I don’t deserve that! I don’t- I don’t deserve you! You should hate me!”

Keith frowned and began to rub small circles between Lance’s shoulder blades.

“I could never hate you, Lance,” Keith said softly. “Just because you kept a secret from us doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. I know you only wanted to protect us- to protect me.”

“B-but you were so angry and so scared when you saw what I could do! How do you know I won’t hurt you! I would never want to put you, or anyone else, in danger. Keith, you’re better off without me.”

“Hey! Hey, look at me,” Keith commanded, turning Lance’s chin upwards when he didn’t move it on his own accord. “Lance, please, just look at me.”

Lance licked his lips and nervously flittered his gaze into Keith’s eyes. In the place he thought he would see anger and fear, he instead saw admiration, confidence, and warmth. This alone prompted a fresh wave of tears.

“I am, in no way, shape, or form, better off without you. Do you hear me?” Keith said, looking directly into Lance’s tear-filled, bloodshot eyes. Despite their swelling and redness from misuse, they were still the most wondrous shade of deep blue Keith had ever seen. 

“You helped me in ways I can’t even explain. You were my first friend that I’ve had in years. _Years_ , Lance! You knew I could hurt people with my powers and yet you still helped me. You found out about my parents and you still stood up for me. You taught me more about myself than I’ve ever dared to learn. I didn’t think I could ever love someone the way I love you, but every second I spend with you are the best moments of my life. I think finding out that you can freeze things a little differently than other people with elemental powers won’t change how I feel about you. Besides, if you always knew you had this ability, you kept from hurting any of us for this long. I doubt suddenly finding this out will cause anything bad to happen. You’re still you. I still trust you. Nothing has changed.”

Lance surged forwards and threw his arms around Keith’s neck, pulling them closer together.

“I love you so much Keith. So much,” Lance cried.

“I know,” Keith said with a smile. “But I love you more.”

“Hey!” Lance pulled back and jabbed a finger into Keith’s chest accusingly. “You always one-up me in everything, let me just have this one thing, okay?”

Keith laughed, holding his hands back in defense. “Sure, sure, whatever you say.”

Lance smiled and embraced his boyfriend once more. “Thank you, Keith.”

They sat there for a few minutes, basking in each other’s warmth, before Pidge burst through the door and startled them apart.

“Hey love birds! I hope everything is all worked out because my dad comes home in two hours and we really have to get these tests on a roll! But it looks like you both made up so let’s get this party started!”

Lance quickly stood up, helping Keith up in the process, and pulled him to the side.

“Hey, so, I uh- I wasn’t expecting you to come today and Hunk and Pidge have already said they are alright with helping me train, you know, _that_ side of my powers, and I just want to let you know that I won’t blame you if you don’t want to stay and watch,” Lance said nervously.

Keith chuckled under his breath. “Lance, I know why you’re here. I came to not only make things right but to help you. You can’t scare me away that easily.”

Lance let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. On one hand, Lance was ecstatic that Keith would be staying and could help if something went wrong, but on the other, the fact that something _could_ go wrong was enough to leave Lance quaking in his boots.

“But promise me something, alright?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded, urging Lance to continue.

“If something bad happens, or something goes wrong, I want you to protect yourself, Hunk, and Pidge first, okay? I’ve never used my powers like this and I don’t know what could happen. You guys are the top priority. I’ll be fine, as long as you guys are fine.”

Keith nodded once more, albeit tentatively. “I trust you, Lance. Nothing bad will happen.”

Lance grabbed Keith by the shoulders and pulled him close.

“But if something _did_ happen, you’ll protect them, yeah?”

“Yes, Lance. I’m pretty sure they can protect themselves seeing as they’ve kicked both of our asses but yes. If I need to, I will protect them.”

Lance smiled, “Thank you, Keith.”

Keith smiled back and squeezed Lance’s hand reassuringly.

“So, I guess we should go see what Pidge and Hunk have set up?”

Lance laughed, turning around and pulling Keith to the other end of the Holt’s yard.

“Believe me,” Lance said. “It’s really not as intense as you would expect. Pidge said we’re starting small and working our way up.”

“Yes, I did,” Pidge piped up from around the corner of the house. She walked forwards and began strapping and taping multiple sensors to Lance’s exposed arms.

“We’re going to start incredibly simple. Hunk and I have set up stands with water bottles on them with varying distances between each one. You’re going to stand right here,” Pidge pulled Lance closer to where the bottles were set up and motioned for him to stand behind a large rock as to mark his spot, “and you’re going to freeze the bottles one by one.”

Lance rubbed the back of his neck before motioning to all the sensors placed on his body.

“And what will these do?” he asked.

Pidge held up one finger, motioning Lance to wait, before digging in her pants pocket and pulling out some sort of rectangular device.

“This,” she shook the small box, “will monitor both your heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration production, and basically anything else you could think of. The main thing we’re looking for is heart rate, since that would change the most when looking at level of exertion when using your powers, but everything else will just help us get some solid final data.”

Lance nodded in understanding. “Okay, simple enough. I just freeze these water bottles without touching them and see how far I can go?”

“Yep,” Pidge replied, popping the ‘p’. “Go as far as you can and only stop when you think you’ve hit your max, or, you know, if you’re about to pass out or something. I don’t know how these powers work.”

Lance laughed nervously, “Yeah, I don’t really know either. I guess we’ll find out.”

Keith walked up and gave Lance a quick peck on the cheek. Lance flushed and turned away in embarrassment.

“Good luck, babe. You got this,” Keith said, proud of himself for making the oh-so-fluid Lance stutter and choke on his own tongue.

“Keithhhhh,” Lance wined. “Not fair.”

Pidge lightly smacked Keith on the arm before waving the device which monitored Lance heart rate in front of his face.

“Look what you did! You messed up the control data. Lance’s heart rate spiked and now we have to wait for it to go down!” She said hotly, a mix of anger and amusement.

“Pidge! Seriously? I’m fine. Let’s go!” Lance pulled away from his friends in embarrassment and stepped up behind the rock.

Hunk jogged up and stood with the group, a pen and clipboard in hand, ready to record all the data.

“You guys ready to do this?” Hunk asked, uncapping the pen with his teeth and scribbling some starting data onto his paper.

“I was born ready,” Lance joked, winking at Keith. Keith laughed lightly and stepped backwards, Hunk and Pidge following, as to give Lance the space he needed.

“Then show us what you’ve got!” Pidge cheered, pressing the “Start” button on her controller and preparing herself to begin the experiment.

Lance turned from his friends and rubbed his hands together, shaking out his arms and legs when he was done. He took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and exhaled loudly.

The first water bottle was directly in front of Lance and he could touch it with his fingertips when he reached forwards. He moved his hand slightly backwards so that his fingers were close to touching the bottle but not quite there. He focused on the bottle and its contents and willed it to bend to his powers.

The bottle froze.

Lance whooped in excitement and smiled at his friends. Pidge and Hunk were busy recording the data that had shown up on Pidge’s monitor, but Keith, who was only watching Lance, gave a double thumbs up in return.

“Ready for the next one?” Lance called to Hunk and Pidge.

“Yeah, hold on…” Pidge replied, using her power to move the stand in which the frozen bottle sat upon out of the way. “Okay, you’re all clear. Round two!”

Lance repeated his previous act of inhaling and exhaling, reaching his hand in the direction of the next water bottle. The next one was approximately five meters further back. Alright, easy.

Lance concentrated and once again felt the bottle and its presence. He willed his powers to seep through and change the liquid water into solid ice. This time was slightly more taxing than the last, but Lance still managed to freeze it completely without strain.

This continued for about half an hour, each bottle being placed further and further away from Lance. They were reaching the end of the space of Pidge’s backyard when Lance swayed and stumbled unsteadily.

Keith ran up and grabbed Lance’s arms, preventing him from falling over.

“Lance?” Keith asked, concern blooming into fear when Lance’s only reply was a weak smile and lidded eyes. “Lance!”

Lance looked up, or at least, he _tried_ to look up, his gaze meeting Keith’s for a few moments before falling back to the ground.

“I’m gooodddddd,” Lance slurred shakily. “All goooddddd in th’hoooooddd.”

Pidge and Hunk ran up behind Keith and helped with supporting Lance.

“Oh man,” Hunk groaned. “I’m not even trying to tell what Lance is feeling but it’s overwhelming me. I think I’m gonna throw up.” He stepped backwards and held his head in his hands.

“What?” Keith almost shrieked. “What’s wrong?”

“M’fineeee,” Lance said, eyelids fluttering. “Juss a lil dizzy”

Keith gripped Lance’s arms harder, his fingertips turning white from the pressure. “Why didn’t you stop earlier? This could have been avoided!”

Lance hummed, “I promiss’d Pidge I’d try m’best. This is m’best.”

Pidge grimaced before turning to Keith to clarify, “Lance knew that using his powers like this could drain his energy. He told me he would be fine no matter what happened and that he wanted to go as far as he could.”

“But—,” Keith started.

“Hey, Keith,” Pidge interrupted. “He’s fine, seriously. Worst case scenario is he passes out. There’s no danger here, it’s just making him a little tired and dizzy. I ran a ton of tests to make sure he would be okay. He’s fine.”

Keith grumbled incoherently.

“What was that?” Pidge asked.

“I said I just don’t want him to get hurt!” Keith fired.

Pidge laughed, “A little bit of being dizzy isn’t enough to take Lance down. Unfortunately.”

“Heyyyyyy,” Lance jumped in. “M’fine. Promise. Now can we do the final test?”

“Final test?!” Keith yelled.

Lance flinched back from Keith and steadied himself carefully without the help of his friends.

“Yeah. Pidge asked me if I wanted t’do a different kinda test at the end jusss’ta check how much I can use my powers when m’tired,” Lance said.

“Are you kidding?” Keith groaned. “You can’t make him use his powers even more, Pidge!”

“I already said he’d be fine, Keith!” She shot. “Besides, Lance has never reached his limit before, he’s always been holding back. This is the only way to ever know the true extent of his powers. He’s going to have to figure out someday. It’s better to find out in a controlled environment than somewhere else!”

Keith opened his mouth to rebuttal, but no sound came out. Pidge, although he hated to admit it, was right. He sighed, “Fine, let’s just get this over with.”

Pidge rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. A few seconds ticked by with no sign as to why she snapped so dramatically, but suddenly, a large, hovering bike of sorts came speeding across the lawn and right up next to Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith.

“Hop in, losers. We’re going shopping.”

Pidge grabbed Lance and steered him to a backseat, motioning for Hunk and Keith to step into the vehicle as well. They all stepped in carefully and barely had time to sit down before they went speeding into the forest.

Keith would be lying if he said he always remembered how powerful his friends were. It was easy to forget you were surrounded by super-powered teenagers when you’re constantly fighting a battle against your own powers. But here, speeding down a path through trees, dodging fallen branches left and right, Keith was once again blown away by the sheer talent Pidge possessed.

It took only a few minutes of Pidge cackling like a maniac and Hunk threatening Pidge to slow down unless she wanted to scrub his lunch out of every nook and cranny, for them to arrive at their destination.

They were in an open field, the border between the field and the forest lined in wires and fencing, while the biggest water tower Keith had ever seen stood in the middle. Keith gaped in awe at the sheer size of it, having never been up close to one before. He had seen them from afar, of course, but up close he forced his neck into the most uncomfortable position while looking up, all so that he could try to see the top.

“This is a water tower my brother and I built when we were younger. Our dad designed it and decided it would be a good way to test out powers. It was no surprise when both Matt and I had the same ability to manipulate and control metal like our father, since this ability was transferred down our entire family.”

Pidge grabbed Lance out of the car and guided him to the base of the tower.

“This particular tower has 500,000 gallons of water stored in both the bulb at the top and all the way down through the base. I want you to freeze as much of it as you can while touching it.”

“500,000 gallons?” Keith shrieked. “How in the world do you expect him to freeze that much?”

“I can do it, Keith.” Lance promised, the previous glaze in his eyes faded and his words determined. “I’ve actually frozen a small lake before, so I think I can do this.”

“A- a _small lake_. Lakes aren’t small!”

“Keith, please, just trust me. I can do it,” Lance said.

Keith flittered his eyes down in worry and took a step back, but not as much as before, ready to jump in if things went downhill.

“Okay! Cool, so, here we go... I guess…” Lance trailed off, putting both his hands against the base of the tower.

Immediately upon contact, Lance could feel sheer amount of water being held still within the tower. It was overwhelming, at first, but Lance managed to wrap his mind around how much he had to freeze.

Focusing on the base and working his way upwards, Lance let his powers work their magic. It was always different freezing things with his hands than with his mind, as he actually felt his power at work on such a close level. His skin started tingling, slightly at first, building up to painful pricks as his powers swelled under his skin.

His hands began to frost over, seeping out and spreading across the metal of the tower. Lance let his power build up only a little longer, before finally letting them go.

His power surged free, zipping around and between the water in the tower, freezing everything as it worked its way upwards. The base of the tower was skinnier than the large bulb at the top, where most of the water was contained, so freezing the entire base only took a few moments. When his powers slithered up to the bulb and began working their way through the thousands upon thousands of gallons stored there, was finally when Lance felt the exertion hit him full on once more.

He swayed slightly, before planting his feet further apart and steadying himself as much as possible. Working through the water at the top of the tank was the hardest part, as it was almost fighting his power in a way, since the nature of water was to be free and uncontained, while Lance’s powers existed solely to contain it.

Hot sweat formed on his brow and dripped into his eyes, a stark contrast to the cold being emitted from his hands. Lance bit his lip and forced his powers to continue.

He was almost three-fourths of the way done with freezing the tank when suddenly his powers exploded beneath his palms. Ice traveled down to the ground and spread quickly across the grass. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see it shoot towards his friends and quickly engulf them in a sheet of ice.

Lance yelled hoarsely and tried to pull his hands away from the base of the tower, but the ice latched itself on and refused to let go.

He struggled and pulled, his heart pounding in his ears and his vision blurring uncontrollably.

“No, no no no no,” he panicked, feeling the jagged spikes of the ice cut into his hands, staining his vision crimson.

He pulled harder, still to no avail, before he felt his knees crumpled underneath him. Darkness seeped into his peripherals, blinding him from his friends. His head pounded, the previous beating of his heart tapering off into something calmer, something weaker.

Lance’s struggling died down, his eyes drooping shut. His last attempt to release himself from the ice encasing his hands left him dangling at an uncomfortable angle, his arms pulled taught above his head and his cheek slammed into the frozen ground.

Black spots danced in front of his eyes, mixing with the red and green of the ice and the grass. He couldn’t feel his arms, or his legs, or really anything for that matter.

The last thing he remembered was a wave of comforting heat encompassing him before the darkness took over.

And everything was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> keith has been struggling with his powers for a while, so i thought, why not give lance a go! don't worry, the next few chapters are a combination of hunk, pidge, lance, and keith taking their finals (which i can promise are way more exciting than they may seem) and also some fluff! then the Final Boss Battle will ensue. i can promise you it will be worth the wait!


	12. Finals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize for such a long wait in between chapters! I was hoping to update multiple times over the summer but I was working four different jobs as well as writing applications. I've been incredibly busy! So thank you so much for sticking with this story. It really means the world. I will admit that I was beginning to lose interest, but the wonderful comments I had received during the short hiatus inspired me to write again. I hope you accept this 12k chapter to make up for lost time! This story is coming to an end, so hopefully the next few chapters will be updated in quick succession.
> 
> -
> 
> ALSO!!! SHIRO HAS A BOYFRIEND!!!! The announcement of Adam at the SDCC panel was so shocking yet so wonderful that I still find myself thinking about it at random times, and every time it brings a smile to my face. I am just so HAPPY!! I had initially planned on Shiro just being the amazing older brother and mentor figure in this story and didn't plan on him having a romantic interest, so unfortunately Adam will not be a main character here. BUT I will try to sneak him in as often as I can! If you want, comment below what powers you think Adam would have and I may be able to incorporate my favorite one!! 
> 
> \- 
> 
> WARNINGS: slight panic attack. most of it happens off screen.

 

_Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!_

Lance frantically rummaged through his backpack, throwing out notebooks, binders, papers, textbooks, and anything in his way.

“You okay, buddy?” Hunk asked, leaning over and giving Lance a soft tap on the shoulder.

“Yeah I’m fine I’m fine I just need to find my pack of tissues before I—”

He cut off abruptly, covering his face in his sleeve, before letting out a sneeze that roared above even the steadily increasing noise of his homeroom. His entire class turned around and faced Lance, a few shocked expressions quickly melting away into soft murmurs of ‘bless you’.

“Dude are you sure you’re okay? It’s been almost a month and this cold hasn’t seemed to get any better. I really think you need to go see someone about this,” Hunk urged.

Lance waved his free hand and searched in his bag once more, finding his tissues in a completely different section. He pulled one out from the package and miserably blew his nose.

“I’m fine, honest. And it has been getting better! Remember how I could barely even move during the first week? My joints were totally frozen together,” Lance replied, sniffing heavily.

The few days following Lance’s unfortunate failure while trying to freeze Pidge’s water tower were dismal at best. It would have been even worse, had Keith not been there to stop Lance from accidentally freezing everything within a mile radius when his powers exploded, including Hunk and Pidge. Lance was positive he had frozen his friends before he passed out, but apparently, he was so delirious from pain and exhaustion that he couldn’t even clearly see his own hand in front of his face, much less his friends standing a few meters away. In reality, his friends walked away unharmed.

Lance didn’t remember much after passing out, but he was told later that he was delusional even after emerging from unconsciousness. He was frozen to the bone, too weak to move, and occasionally sprouting pleas and whimpers for someone to save his friends. What ultimately brought Lance back to reality, however, was Keith.

Keith had held his hand and gently coaxed the warmth back into Lance’s body with the faintest touch of his powers. When Lance woke up, the first thing he was aware of, even before the terrible pounding of the absolute worst headache he’d ever felt, was the soft, relieved smile of his boyfriend as Keith pulled their intertwined fingers to his chest before placing a gentle kiss to the back of Lance’s hand.

Even now, Keith’s warmth was the only thing keeping Lance from wearing ten winter coats to school in the heat of the approaching summer. Unfortunately, Keith had not arrived to class yet, and even though homeroom did not start for another few minutes, Lance was growing colder by the second and silently hoped Keith would burst through the door.

“Geez, when is Keith gonna get here?” Hunk sighed, as if he was reading Lance’s mind. Although, to be fair, he probably was.

Lance glanced at the clock and his shoulders slumped. With only three minutes left until the start of class, Keith should have been here by now.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s not coming to school today?” Lance said with a forced lightfullness, although his stomach churned simply at the thought of a day without Keith. Part of it was the fact that he literally needed Keith to stay warm, sure, but the other part was he just really wanted to see him again. They had started spending almost every second of the day together, with their identical class schedules and going to each other’s houses to finish homework after school. Of course, they spent a healthy amount of time apart for other things, such as time with family or friends, but Lance felt like he was going through withdraw every time they were separated. As if his very essence ached to be by Keith’s side.

“Oh! Oh, Keith’s here!” Hunk piped up suddenly, smiling over at Lance.

Lance’s head shot up and he glanced around the room, quickly realizing Keith was nowhere in sight.

“Hunkkkk!” Lance whined, “Don’t do that to me, I thought he was actually here.”

“But he—”

The door to their classroom swung open with so much force that it crashed against the back wall and started to close again. Keith hurried inside and steadied the door, before closing it slowly and scanning the room.

Lance smiled when their eyes met, and Keith did the same, before breaking out of his daze and rushing quietly to his seat.

“Lance I am so sorry!” Keith apologized in a shouting whisper, guilt etched into every line of his body.

“Shiro was driving to school today and I thought he would be on time like always,” he explained, detangling himself from his backpack and letting it fall unceremoniously to the ground.

Lance chuckled, “Keith it’s oka—"

“So I went with him instead of taking the bus,” Keith continued, sitting down in the chair next to Lance and pushing his slightly sweaty bangs out of his face.

“Dude seriously, it’s alrigh—"

“But he stopped to get coffee for both him and Adam and the line was just so long!” He fumbled with the strap to his fingerless gloves, swearing when they wouldn’t come off.

“Woah calm dow—"

“And I told him we had to get to school quickly but I didn’t tell him why because I know you said you didn’t want anyone to know about yo-“

“KEITH!” Lance urged, grabbing Keith’s right arm. “It’s one hundred percent okay! Chill out!”

Keith frowned, finally managing to unclasp his gloves. He reached up to his arm and pulled Lance’s hand away, holding it within his own.

Immediately, Lance felt warmth surging through his body, inwards from his hand. He let out a soft, thin sigh of relief as his body began to thaw and he squeezed Keith’s hand in appreciation. Keith looked up from their entwined fingers and smiled apologetically at Lance.

“Hey, none of that,” Lance scolded playfully. It was my fault I overdid it with my powers. If anything, _I_ should feel bad for making you hold my hand all the time.”

Keith frowned, ready to disagree with everything Lance just said. It wasn’t his fault he accidentally overdid it with his powers, he was just trying to figure out his limits. However, as soon as Keith opened his mouth to refute, a piercing yet annoyingly familiar school bell cut through the air and filled the room, silencing the multiple conversations scattered around them.

“Happy finals day, everyone!”

Their homeroom teacher burst through the door as soon as the bell to start homeroom ended, carrying a large stack of miscellaneous papers. There were no folders holding the papers together, or a paperclip, or even a staple or two, so papers snuck their way out of their teacher’s grasp and floated to the ground.

The class collectively groaned.

“Finals day?” A smaller girl at the opposite corner of the room asked. “I thought finals are normally on the last week of school, not the second to last!”

“We teachers decided to shake some things up! Since there are more students this year at Sky High than ever before, we decided to move finals forward so everyone would have enough time to complete them!” Their teacher stood up, knocking over part of his stack and sending even more papers flying, all unbeknownst by him.

“Uh,” Lance spoke up, clearing his throat. “Mr. Coran? You may have knocked some papers over.”

“Ah, thank you Lance! As helpful as always!” Mr. Coran said, beaming at Lance once before returning to look at his desk, making no attempt to pick up the papers on the ground.

Lance looked sideways at Keith and smiled awkwardly while shrugging slowly, getting out of his seat and picking up Mr. Coran’s papers for him.

“Thank you, thank you, my boy! A gold star for you!” Coran cheered happily as he pulled a small sheet of stickers from his pocket, peeled one off, and placed it on the chest of Lance’s shirt.

“Uh… Thanks, Mr. Coran,” Lance replied awkwardly, shuffling back to his seat. Faint snickers followed him back but faded out by the time he sat down.

“Is he always like that?” Keith asked, leaning over and whispering near Lance.

“Yeah, pretty much. He’s just a weird guy,” Lance said, the corner of his mouth quirking up into a small smile. “But he sure is nice. He’s been my homeroom teacher for two years now. It would have been three if I was here my freshman year. All homeroom teachers follow the class up during their four years here.”

“Oh,” Keith hummed in understanding. “Does that mean we’ll get him again next year?”

Lance nodded, “I mean, assuming you come back for another year. You are, right?”

Keith froze, his palms suddenly growing sweatier. He hadn’t really… _thought_ about it much. Initially he wanted to leave Sky High as soon as possible, but despite all the unfortunate confrontations both relating to and not to his powers, this semester had been one of the best few months of his life.

Keith smiled, “Yeah. Yeah, I think I am”.

Lance beamed at Keith and grabbed his hand once more, interlocking their fingers and squeezing softly. At the front of the room, Mr. Coran raised his voice to get his students’ attention.

“Finals week is the one week of the school year where everyone can showcase their abilities to the entire school! I am excited to see what all of you can do, especially our new recruits!” Coran smiled happily at Keith and two other students who were new to the school. “Like always, we are going to start with the Freshmen and work our way up to the Seniors. I hope you all have work to do in the meantime, since you Juniors will not be going until Wednesday at the earliest!”

Coran spun around and reached for the remote to turn on the projector to broadcast the Freshmen finals, before realizing It was out of reach. With a sigh and a flick of his hand, the remote flew across the room and into his grasp.

Keith gasped, turning to Lance and whispering under his breath, “Oh so is that Mr. Coran’s power? Telekinesis? I’ve never seen him use it before”

Lance shrugged, “Yeah, I guess? He’s always really weird about using it though. Like, he didn’t use it to pick up those papers on the floor earlier, but last year he would use it to roll our pencils off our desk if we weren’t paying attention. Pidge asked him about his powers once and he said his greatest power is his strength of character… whatever that means.”

Pidge leaned back over at the mention of her name, “Yeah, seriously. He’s such a weird dude. But Matt had him back when Matt went to school and apparently Coran’s been this way for as long as he can remember. At least he’s one of the nicer homeroom teachers. Some of the other ones are _awful_.”

“Shay said her teacher makes them sit in silence every class,” Hunk jumped in. “If anyone talks, Professor Dayak goes insane and gives them all detention. I feel so bad for her.” Hunk pouted and curled in on himself like a kicked puppy.

“Hey, Shay’s a tough girl. She can handle herself,” Lance patted Hunk reassuringly on the arm.

A few silent moments followed, and Keith waited to see if anyone would speak up to shatter the solemn atmosphere. Keith coughed awkwardly.

“So,” he said, interrupting the silence, “we just sit and watch the Freshmen take their finals?”

Lance hummed in agreement. “Yep. These finals aren’t like normal High School finals with papers and essays and stuff, though. It’s a course set up in the gym to test your powers and it’s run by Professor Allura, so you always know it’s going to be hard but good. The goal is to defeat different obstacles and save the citizen at the end. You get different points by how to defeat the obstacles, but you can only pass if you save the citizen.”

Keith bit his lip in worry. “And the entire school watches?” he asked nervously.

“Oh, yeah, but don’t worry about it. Most people don’t pay attention and just goof off in homeroom. Finals are a week long so for the whole week we all just stay in our homeroom class all day and do homework or study for end of the year tests in other classes or something,” Lance said.

Keith took a deep breath in and held it for a few seconds before exhaling. “And what happens if someone doesn’t save the citizen? I mean, everyone does their own final, right? So what happens if we fail?”

“You won’t fail, Keith. There’s nothing to worry about. And even if you did, the worst thing that happens is you have to take a separate week-long course over the summer with Professor Allura and some other teachers to help with your powers. It’s really not a big deal,” Lance promised.

But it is a big deal to Keith. Being humiliated in front of the entire school was the last thing he wanted, especially after the knowledge about his villain parents spread like a wildfire through the hallways. People were already judging him for this, and he didn’t want to give them another reason to continue doing it.

Keith glanced up to the screen Mr. Coran had turned on just in time to see the first Freshman take his spot at the beginning of the intricate course. A green light flashed on a scoreboard in the corner of the gym to signal the start, and the kid immediately ran towards the citizen. At about halfway across the floor, a robot rose from the side of the course and stepped in between the kid and the fake citizen doll hanging at the other end of the gym.

Pidge whooped from behind Keith as soon as the robot showed itself on the screen.

“There’s a robot?” She almost shouted in glee. “Hell yeah! Finals this year are going to be great!”

Keith scrunched his eyebrows together quizzically. “Are there not always robots?” He asked, turning around to face Pidge.

“No, the actual obstacles are always different each year, except there’s always a teacher who protects the citizen at the end. The Freshmen only have one obstacle besides the teacher, the Sophomores have the same obstacles as the Freshmen except one more. Then the Juniors have the same obstacles as the Sophomores, but with one more as well. Same thing with the Seniors. So basically, every grade has one more obstacle than the previous one. It’s kinda confusing but it makes sense that the older students would have more obstacles since they have a better control over their powers,” Pidge explained.

“But it’s not always fair,” Lance said, “since some powers suck against fighting robots. Like Hunk! His powers are so badass, but he can’t use them on a robot!” He huffed angrily. “The whole system is rigged to benefit only a certain set of powers. It’s so annoying.”

“You’re telling me,” Hunk sighed. “Whatever. It’s fine, this happens every year. I’ll figure something out.”

Keith frowned. Lance was right. Hunk wouldn’t be able to fight a robot with his powers, while Lance and Keith would have a much easier time. Not to mention Pidge could control the entire robot using her own powers.

“But that’s not fair,” Keith insisted. “Just because your powers are different doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be just as useful, if not more so, than anyone else’s powers in real life.”

Hunk laughed. “Thanks Keith, but it’s not like the this is the first time something like this has happened. I’ll be fine.”

Hunk glanced up at the screen and he gasped softly. “Look at those kid’s powers, though! That is so cool!”

Keith looked up and his mouth fell open in shock to match Hunk’s similar expression. The boy who was battling the robot had flown upwards into the air and circled the robot’s head tauntingly. He had led the robot closer to the teacher who was guarding the citizen, and the teacher was forced to jump out of the way before he would have gotten crushed. 

The boy abandoned his taunting of the robot and dove through the air to free the citizen. The scoreboard flashed once more, showing both the student’s time and if he passed or failed. The word “pass” was lit up in a neon yellow and flashed multiple times before fading back to a soft glow.

“So what was his score?” Keith asked.

“He didn’t have one,” Lance replied. “He didn’t actually defeat the robot or the teacher, so he didn’t get a score. If he got a score it would have shown up next to the ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ at the end.”

“What does the score exactly do?”

“Not much, to be honest. If you get a high score but fail at saving the citizen, sometimes the class you have to take in the summer is shorter. But if you pass and you have a really high score, you can get noticed by scouts trying to recruit for superhero agencies once you graduate. You also have some, uh, short-lived fame by the school, but it’s not really that important.”

“Oh, come on, Lance,” Hunk said. “Just because it’s important to you doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

“Wait, what? Why would you care about that?” Keith asked before he could stop himself, accidentally sounding harsher than he intended.

Keith frowned and mentally chastised himself. Just because Keith didn’t want attention didn’t mean he should judge Lance for caring for it.

Lance smiled timidly. “Well, normally if someone is running for student body president, they want to get a high score so that people are more likely to remember them and vote for them.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Keith murmured, turning back to the screen to watch yet another freshmen face the course. Between both his powers and Lance’s most recent development with his own powers, Keith completely forgot about Lance’s goal of becoming student body president.

“But that doesn’t mean I go looking for attention or anything,” Lance said suddenly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “I don’t want you to think that I’m obsessed with being in the spotlight… or whatever.”

Keith turned to Lance and blinked slowly. “And why,” he paused, trying to keep his inflection normal, “would I think that?”

Lance licked hip lips nervously. “Uh, no reason? I just know that you’re not a fan of a lot of attention, so I didn’t want to think I would, you know, force you into that sort of situation if something were to happen.”

Keith’s stomach plummeted, but he had no idea if it was because of guilt, anger, or both. He clenched his fists and urged himself not to shout in the middle of class.

“Don’t hold yourself back because of _me_ ,” he fired angrily at Lance.

“I’m not! I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable!” Lance cried.

 

Keith didn’t trust himself to respond, so he instead bit his tongue and flexed his hands opened and closed, trying to rid them of the ache from clenching his fists so tightly.

Now that Keith could see clearly and wasn’t blinded by anger, he noticed that fog has risen from the air around Lance’s mouth when he spoke. Upon looking closer, Keith was suddenly aware of Lance’s body shivering and his teeth clacking together loudly.

He quickly looked down at Lance’s hands and was horrified when he saw that Lance’s fingertips had turned a pale white color from the cold his body was emitting. Keith lurched forwards and immediately grabbed Lance’s hands within his own, coaxing his powers to do their work to thaw Lance’s fingers.

Lance’s hands were so cold, it was almost as if Keith was holding dry ice within his grasp instead of human flesh. After a few moments of no progress with Lance’s hands or the rest of his body, Keith started to panic. He upped the intensity of his powers as much as he could while still sure he would not burn the other.

“I’m f-fine, Keith,” Lance managed in between chatters. He tried to pull out of Keith’s grip, but Keith only held on tighter. Finally, after only a few more seconds, Lance’s hands returned to a normal temperature and the fog disappeared from his breath.

“What the hell was that, Lance?” Keith whispered angrily.

“I don’t know,” Lance panicked, his eyes darting around the room, landing multiple times on the classroom door as if he was planning an escape.

“Has this happened recently?” Keith asked.

“N-not really?” Lance winced, “You know that I’ve just been _really_ cold this past month in general, but it gets worse when I get mad or upset I guess.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “This is serious, Lance! You could get hurt! You really need to see someone about this, something really bad could happen!”

“Can we drop it, please?” Lance pleaded, looking down and realizing Keith was still holding his hands in an iron grip. “Let’s just watch the Freshmen’s finals, okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith frowned, wanting to convince Lance to get help but also not wanting to upset him. “Okay.”

They both looked up to the screen, watching student after student try to save the citizen. While some kids scored incredibly high, most kids only were able to rescue the citizen and not defeat the robot and the teacher. A few were not able to even score points, much less save the citizen. The smallest group of students were amazing and had done almost everything perfectly but had run out of time and failed anyways.

They spent three full school days watching the finals of the Freshmen and Sophomores, while Lance, Hunk, and Pidge gave Keith pointers along the way. Keith nodded numbly and tried to remember all that they had told him, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was going to become the physical embodiment of the smallest group of people who did not pass. He couldn’t help but feel he was going to fail anyways.

\---

“Alrighty then!” Mr. Coran called out once the bell to start class had finished ringing. He shuffled through his miscellaneous stack of papers and eventually pulled out the one he deemed fit. “The order of your class’ finals have been released! Listen to your name being called, as this will tell you when your final will take place! Everyone in our homeroom is in alphabetical order by last name, and our homeroom is the first class to go this year!”

Lance perked up and listened closely to the long list of names Mr. Coran called out to the class. He only listened for a few names, so once Mr. Coran was done with the list, Lance turned to his friends and beamed at them.

“Finals are one of the few times where I’m excited my last name starts further down the alphabet,” Lance joked.

 “I think they just wanted to give you as much time as possible to prepare. We all know you’re going to need it,” Hunk replied flippantly, but with just enough humor to mimic Lance’s earlier comment.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Sure dude, whatever you say.”

“It sucks that I’m going second out of us though,” Pidge leaned in. “I really wanted to go first to get it out of the way.”

“Hey, you’ll kick ass no matter when you go. You’re gonna be the best out of all of us, I can feel it,” Lance reassured.

Pidge’s eyes crinkled behind her glasses from a full-face smile. “Thanks Lance,” she said softly.

“Do you have any idea what you’re going to do, Hunk?” Keith leaned over to ask his friend.

“Oh of course I do, but I’m not going to spill my secrets for you!” Hunk joked.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Hunk, we’re going to see everything you do on screen anyways.”

“So?” Hunk said. “If I have to be the one who goes first, I want to at least use the element of surprise to my advantage.”

“I mean, we won’t be the ones being surprised since we all already know about your powers but whatever you say big buy,” Lance joked.

Hunk pouted and crossed his arms. “Doesn’t mean I can’t still surprise everyone.”

“The only way you’ll surprise us is if you don’t pass with flying colors. We all know you’re gonna show that course who’s boss!” Lance beamed. “But look,” he said, pointing up to the screen at the front of their class, which now had the words ‘Up Next: Hunk Garrett’ in the corner, “it looks like you’re up next. You got this!”

Hunk smiled nervously. “Awh, thanks Lance. See you guys after the course!”

“Good luck dude!” Pidge said, “You won’t need it, though!”

“Yeah, I’m with Pidge. You’re gonna crush this,” Keith agreed.

Hunk gave them all a thumbs up before carefully rising out of his seat and walking out the door.

Keith, Lance, and Pidge sat in silence for a few moments, watching the screen anxiously for Hunk. After about three minutes, when the girl in front of Hunk had completed her final and the course had been set up once again, repaired, and remade, Lance finally gasped once the screen panned to Hunk.

Hunk’s face was utterly still, a stone carving of a man determined to do his best. Hunk only had a few seconds of preparation before the screen flashed green and the test had begun.

Lance, Keith, and Pidge all watched with wide eyes as Hunk sprinted onto the course. Instead of heading towards the citizen he needed to save, Hunk immediately ran in the direction of where the robot was going to emerge.

Sure enough, the robot rose out of the rubble as soon as Hunk got close, but Hunk never faltered as he continued in stride. He ran closer and closer while the robot started swinging his arm in a large arc, ready to fling Hunk across the room. However, right when the arm was about to connect with Hunk’s side and send him flying, he dropped on to his knees and slid between the robot’s legs.  

The large robot stumbled forward, falling directly into one of the obstacles Hunk would have had to face once he ran closer to the citizen; a long, thick strip of metal which shot out arrows at both the student and the citizen doll once the student was close enough to saving the citizen. The Juniors had known about this obstacle in advance, as it was the second obstacle that the Sophomores had when they were taking their own finals.

Unfortunately, the last two challenges were harder than the first ones. The professor was still guarding the citizen, hands up, ready to attack. The last obstacle, which was added specifically for Juniors and Seniors, had erupted from the ground and made a beeline for Hunk.

A twisting, spiked vine burst from a door on the floor and flared its dangerously long thorns. Hunk gasped and backpaddled, almost falling over his own feet in the process. If this was any other student, they would have frozen up and not known what to do in such a tense situation.

This wasn’t any other student.

This was Hunk.

In less than a second, Hunk’s shocked expression had melted away and transformed into the best poker face anyone had ever seen. He headed toward the large vine, ducking and dodging every single one of its exaggerated flails. With Hunk’s powers, there was not much he could do against an obstacle that did not have a sentient thinking process with complex emotions and a bendable consciousness. But Hunk had more than just his powers. He was one of the smartest students in the school. If he could defeat a giant robot and an arrow-shooting contraption with only his hands and his wits, he could do anything.

As he ran closer to the base of the large vine, he paused to dodge yet another vicious swing from the plant. Right at the arc of the swing, when there was just enough space under the vine for it to come completely off the ground, Hunk saw his chance and sprinted forward. He dove under the gap with a tight gasp, as one of the thorns twisted his way and shallowly sliced the skin above his eyebrow.

Without missing a beat, Hunk rolled to his feet and ran directly at the professor guarding the citizen doll. The professor, although shocked at how Hunk had surpassed the obstacle so quickly, had experience in tight situations and was prepared no matter what. With a quick wave of his already raised arms, Hunk was blown to the side and knocked to the ground.

Hunk groaned and pulled himself up with shaky arms, before he was knocked down by yet another gust of wind. From this angle, Hunk could see the timer flashing almost directly above him.

50 seconds left.

He pulled himself to his feet yet again and steadied himself for the professor’s next attack. The wind was strong, but Hunk was stronger. Hunk’s shoes squeaked in protest as he slid across the floor, but as soon as the wind ceased, Hunk’s own powers came into play.

Hunk held out his left hand, with his right hand pressed firmly to his temple. The professor stared incredulously at him for a few moments before Hunk’s powers finally hit him. The professor buckled at the knees, one knee dropping and hitting the gym floor with a loud thunk.

In a last-ditch attempt to stop him, the professor raised his hand and fired one final burst of wind at Hunk. Hunk, being practically inside the professor’s head at this point, had anticipated the blast and dove out of the way just in time. The blast hit the vine and the vine recoiled, curling in on itself in a moment of pain, before striking once more.

Hunk darted behind the professor and dove into the air, over the enormous vine, grabbing the citizen doll and snapping the rope holding it in the process. Hunk spun mid-air and landed on his back, with the citizen doll safely in his grasp on his front. ‘Pass’ flashed green on the board, along with Hunk’s final time of 23 seconds and his score of 78.

Lance whooped in celebration, ignoring the few funny looks from his classmates that had recovered from being so shocked in awe from Hunk’s amazing run. If they didn’t agree that it absolutely badass, then they were sorely mistaken, and Lance didn’t care what they thought about him anyways.

Lance practically bounced in his seat, waiting eagerly for Hunk to come back into the room. When he finally opened the door and walked inside, a pleasant applause broke out from the students and a wide smile crept bashfully onto Hunk’s face.

Hunk made his way over back to his seat and sat down, the smile still plastered happily in place.

“Dude, that was so _awesome_!” Lance yelled, clasping his hand against Hunk’s and pounding him on the back in celebration. “The way you dodged that robot like this—,” Lance made a zooming motion with his hands, “and the robot smashed into those arrows‑,” he now made a hitting motion of his fist against his palm, “and then you slid under that fine and absolutely _wrecked_ that teacher!”

Lance reached forwards and grabbed both of Hunk’s shoulders, shaking him back and forth violently. “You are so cool!” he shouted.

Hunk laughed and reached up to pat the hands that were on his shoulders.

“Thank you, Lance,” he said gratefully. “But it really wasn’t that great.”

Lance pulled his hands back and reached up to wag a finger in front of Hunk’s face.

“If you _ever_ say you are _anything_ less than _perfect_ I will kick your ass,” Lance threatened.

“Okay, okay, I hear you,” Hunk laughed, holding his hands up in surrender.

“I love ya dude,” Lance said. “Forever and always.”

“Right back at ya, bro. You’re seriously the best friend someone could ever have.”

Keith bit his lip and gazed downwards, trying not to let the ugly sting of jealousy work its way into his heart. He _knows_ Lance and Hunk are best friends. Hell, all four of them are amazing friends and Keith wouldn’t trade the world for any single one of them. But seeing Lance and Hunk joke so openly about loving each other made Keith jealous that Lance and him couldn’t throw around the same sentiments so flauntingly.

 _Maybe it’s easier to tell your friends you love them when you know that love is platonic_ , the rational side of Keith’s brain whispered in his ear.

 _But what if he doesn’t tell you he loves you as easily because he actually just doesn’t love you_ , the most definitely not rational side of Keith’s brain fires back.

 _Shut up,_ rational brain Keith says.

“Nice job Hunk,” Keith says simply, speaking out loud before his head can taunt him anymore.

“Thanks, Keith!” Hunk beams.

Keith nods and dips his head back towards the desk, before realizing Lance has interlocked his hand with Keith’s one more without thought. Lance was still babbling on about every cool move Hunk pulled during his final, but their hands stayed clasped tightly together.

Huh. Maybe he was overthinking everything. _Again_.

 _Is there a way to turn off your brain? That would be nice_.

“Hey, Pidge,” Hunk said, shaking Keith from his trance. “I think you’re after this girl.”

Pidge looked up and sure enough, ‘Up Next: Katie Holt’ was flashing in a corner at the bottom of the screen.

“Alright, fellas,” Pidge said, cracking her knuckles, “time to watch how it’s _really_ done,”

She stood up and walked briskly out the room, turning at the last second and giving a mock salute with two fingers, before spinning once again on her heel and disappearing out the door.

Lance, Hunk, and Keith did not have to wait long for Pidge to appear on screen, and when she did, she held a presence like no other.

She had her arms crossed and her body relaxed as she tilted her head slightly to the side and scanned the course with a calculated yet cool expression. When the light flashed green on the board inside the gym, letting Pidge know that her final had started, she didn’t even run forward right away.

She casually walked onto the course, a sly grin tugging at her mouth, as the robot rose from the edge of the gym. The robot bounded towards her, looking as murderous as always, and everyone forgot to breathe for a few seconds as it seemed like the robot was about to crush her.

Suddenly, the robot stopped moving.

It crouched down and held out a steady hand to Pidge, who carefully climbed into its palm. The robot brought its hand up to its shoulders, where Pidge climbed off and mounted her feet into the space between its neck and the metal which signified a trapezius muscle. She whooped in giddy celebration as the robot did a 180 degree turn and stomped towards the arrow machine. It brought a large hand up into the air and back down in a slicing motion and completely cut through the metal that fired the arrows.

The robot turned towards the citizen and headed in its direction, pausing only momentarily to stomp on the vine as soon as it emerged from the door on the ground. The vine fought valiantly against the robot, but eventually stilled and thumped heavily against the floor.

The professor dove out of the way of the charging robot, leaving a clear path to the citizen doll. Pidge yelled triumphantly as the robot reached forwards and plucked the citizen doll safely out of the air.

Once Pidge had walked back to class, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she sat in her chair.

“Pidge,” Lance gasped, star struck, “I’m pretty sure you beat that course faster than anyone ever has. Why didn’t you take out the teacher at the end? You could have totally gotten the best score in the whole school.”

“I don’t really care for points,” Pidge shrugged. “I just wanted to show them how rigged the whole thing is to fit a certain type of power.”

“Dude, you are my hero,” Lance whispered.

They all laughed. Everyone except Keith.

Keith slowly and carefully pulled his hand away from Lance’s as to not alert Lance of his palms steadily growing sweatier.

Keith was next. In their friend group, at least. But there were only a few people in front of him before he had to go. How was he going to defeat all four obstacles without losing control of his powers? It wasn’t like he had strength like Hunk. He couldn’t control cool robots like Pidge. He couldn’t freeze everything like Lance.

The only way he could stop the obstacles would be to destroy them. All he could do was melt them until they could no longer function properly. He had no secret skills. No tricks up his sleeve.

He sighed lightly and blew his bangs out of his face in frustration. There was nothing he could do but wait.

-

Lance didn’t even realize he was biting his lip until the metallic taste of blood blossomed across his tongue.

He forced himself to stop, and instead started cracking his knuckles finger by finger. Lance almost never cracked his knuckles and only did so when he was extremely nervous.

And right now, he was definitely nervous.

Not for himself, of course, but for Keith.

On screen, Keith was lined up on the edge of the course, deadly still. Not stretching, not bouncing lightly on his toes like Lance does before any type of obstacle course or physical final, and not even breathing heavily. He clenched and unclenched his bare fists, probably feeling naked without his gloves to cover them. Hunk had to remind a surprised Keith before he left the room that extra help was not allowed in the course, including gloves that controlled his powers. Keith had hesitantly taken them off, but it was obvious he was nervous when doing so.

The camera panned in on Keith’s face, and Lance’s breath hitched in his throat when he saw pure panic reflecting in his boyfriend’s eyes. Nobody else would have been able to tell, and if Lance had seen this expression a few months ago, he wouldn’t have been able to tell either. After Keith opened up to Lance and spilled some of the secrets gnawing away at him from the inside out, Lance slowly became accustomed to Keith frequently being more scared than he let on.

Keith was scared of people seeing him differently because of his parents. He was scared of others abandoning him. But all of that was irrelevant when the fear of hurting the people he loved overshadowed all others.

Even though there was nobody to actually hurt in the course, since the professor fighting Keith was more than capable of holding their own, Lance knew Keith was gauging how he would complete the final without destroying anything. Although Keith had come immeasurable lengths in learning how to control his powers, being scared of them could overwrite all their hard work and the fear could flip the switch on Keith’s dominance over his fire.

Lance froze as the board in the gym flashed green, signaling Keith to go. Lance glued his eyes to the screen.

Keith hesitated before he ran onto the gym floor, eyeing the wall which fired arrows and the spot where he knew the robot would emerge. He advanced slowly, opting to deal with the wall of arrows before he got too close to the robot and he would be forced to fight two obstacles at once.

He inched closer to the wall, keeping a close watch on the firing mechanism which would send out arrows at random times. Right before Keith was in a clearing where the arrows could not reach, the mechanism clicked loudly into place and arrows lined themselves up, pointing slightly out of the holes they were about to be fired from. Keith’s eyes widened, and he sprinted forward, diving to safety right before the arrows fired.

One arrow landed only a few inches from where Keith had been before he dove the last few feet to blind spot where the arrows could not reach.

Lance’s chest had begun to hurt, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

“Come on, Keith, come on…” Lance murmured as Keith clearly debated whether or not he should destroy the firing mechanism with his fire. “Just do it, babe, it’s okay.”

Keith’s tense expression slowly turned into an apprehensive frown, as he placed his hands along the base of the wall while still hiding in the safe patch from the arrows.

 _Come on, come on, come on_ , Lance chanted inside his head.

As if answering Lance’s prayers, Keith slowly exhaled and closed his eyes, letting the metal beneath his hands glow yellow and orange, radiating pure heat. Keith pulled his hands away and watched as the heat spread and the metal wall slowly melted in on itself into a puddle on the floor. Lance cheered silently in his seat; a stark contrast to Keith biting his lip nervously on screen.

Using his powers for destruction was tough, even though Keith knew that was all he could do.

Keith sighed and stood up, preparing himself for the next obstacle. He didn’t have long to prepare, as the robot emerged and charged Keith with incredible speed.

Keith yelped and dodged out of the way, rolling and jumping back to his feet. He stood, hands at the ready, preparing for the robot’s next attack. The robot stopped slowly, needing the time to turn around, as it’s large size created so much momentum and prevented the robot from changing directions quickly. _Wait…_

Keith was suddenly stuck with a brilliant idea.

He smirked, still waiting for the robot to advance once again. As the robot took thundering steps forward, Keith dodged the robot once again, sliding in between its legs.

Keith reached out and skimmed a burning hand directly against the joint along the robot’s ankle, melting its socket completely. The robot took a clean step forward, moving as if its entire left ankle had not been melted away. The deformed metal had not cooled yet, but after a minute of dodging the robot a few more times, the metal cooled and locked the joint in place.

The robot stumbled, barely managing to keep itself upright with its one useful leg remaining. It turned around again, and since it had no critical thinking skills whatsoever, just programmed codes to attack, it bounded forward once more.

The robot came at him just like before and Keith repeated the same motion he did the first time. He slid in between its legs, reaching out his other hand and this time melting the other ankle joint. Keith jumped up and dodged the robot once more, waiting for the melted metal to cool.

Finally, the robot’s movements slowly started to grow tighter and tighter. Its steps shortened, its legs locked, and finally, the robot fell face first onto the unforgiving gym floor.

“Fuck yeah,” Keith whispered underneath his breath, unaware that his boyfriend had just said the same thing back in the classroom, albeit not quite as quiet.

A roaring eruption broke Keith from his thoughts too late, not even giving him enough time to turn around before a mass of green slammed into his side and sent him flying across the room.

Keith landed hard, _really hard_ , on the ground. He was pretty sure he had bounced at least once or twice on the floor like some sort of anime character in an overly dramatic show, knocking the wind out of him multiple times.

He groaned, pulling himself slowly to his feet. He looked up, balling his hands into fists as he saw the large vine writhing on the floor in a large lump of green.

This time, Keith didn’t even think before he charged the vine. He could beat a _fucking_ _plant_ , okay?

Keith ran right up to the mass of vines, jumping directly onto the largest vine he could find. Thankfully, no spikes impaled him, but one did cut into his jacket and rip a hole right through the edge of the sleeve. Keith cursed. That was his _favorite_ jacket.

Ready to be done with this damn final, and okay, maybe he was a little mad from his favorite jacket being ripped, Keith held his palms flesh against the plant and willed his fire to break free. Immediately, the plant was engulfed in crimson flames.

Keith jumped off and backheeled quickly, avoiding the violent thrashing of the vine. The vine darkened and darkened, until all that was left was a smoking pile of ash.

“Yes! Yes!” Lance shouted from within his classroom, practically jumping out of his seat with enthusiasm.

“Lance,” Coran sighed, “I understand you are excited with your friend’s performance, but could you please refrain from shouting.”

Lance grimaced, “Sorry, Mr. Coran. It won’t happen again.”

“That’s what you said last time,” Hunk leaned over, smirking.

Lance shooed Hunk away, biting back a laugh, “So, what? Sue me for being happy.”

“I will do no such thing,” Hunk replied, “I haven’t seen you this happy since—”

“Hunk! Hunk!” Lance cut in, hitting the back of his hand against Hunk’s arm in rapid succession. “He’s going against the professor now!”

Sure enough, the screen displayed Keith and the professor in a one-on-one standoff. Keith had his fists raised in his signature display, while the professor’s hands were loose at his sides, however still ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

Keith, still just wanting to get everything over with, made the first move. He fired a burst of fire at the professor, while the professor easily deflected it with a wave of his hand.

Keith grunted and fired again, this time with more force. The professor had to jump out of the way to dodge the heat of the flames, but he responded with his own wave of air. Keith was knocked backwards, skidding across the floor.

Keith quickly knelt down and placed his hands flat on the floor. He brought his hands up quickly in a curved motion, sending a cascading wave of fire right at the professor. The professor quickly created a tornado of wind to deflect the fire and spin it around, before sending it directly back where Keith was standing.

However, Keith had anticipated a move such as this. When the windy flames reached where he was standing, he was already gone and into the air.

It was risky, flying in the air with his flames while he was fighting someone who could control the very air he was in, but it was a risk Keith knew he would have to take. The professor quickly spotted Keith directly above him in the air and fired another small tornado in his direction. Keith swerved and descended, falling to the ground behind the professor and tucking into a roll before hoping up and sprinting towards the doll, which was now very close to him.

Keith reached forward, ready to free the citizen doll and end the final when he was blasted to the side and far away from the citizen.

Keith ground his teeth and held back a growl as he stood up and fired flames blindly where he thought the professor was. None of his flames made contact. In fact, the professor was nowhere to be seen.

Keith spun around, looking wildly for any trace of the professor. Nothing.

Suddenly, Keith felt a slight wind on the tips of his hair, directly above his scalp.

It reminded him of when Lance and Keith would snuggle up together on the couch, watching some terrible movie on Netflix that neither of them had ever heard of before but was recommended to them by Shiro’s boyfriend, who, quite frankly, had a horrible taste in obscure movies. Lance would blow softy in Keith’s ear, and Keith would tuck his head into Lance’s shirt to avoid the playful attacks. Lance would laugh and blow harder on Keith’s hair, just to spite him. Eventually, Keith would give up and let Lance play with his hair however he liked. In all honesty, Keith kind of enjoyed it.

But this was no game. This could be the difference between distinguishing himself to the rest of the school as someone who was capable of controlling his powers, versus someone who was controlled _by_ his powers. And right now, Keith didn’t have much time left to prove that he was the former rather than the latter.

Keith didn’t even acknowledge the professor as he knelt down and touched only the tips of his fingers to the floor. A small ring of fire danced around his fingertips, slowly spreading out and circling around his whole body. The wind above Keith blew harder, trying to extinguish the flames, but Keith closed his eyes, bit his lip, and willed the fire to grow higher.

A wall of flames, in the shape of a cylinder, rose upwards all the way to the ceiling, only growing larger with every gust of wind urging the flames on. The professor yelped as his wind was snuffed out by the fire, trapping him within a blazing cage. Keith dove through the wall of flames and emerged on the other side, realizing that the professor could not create enough air from the inside to put out the fire.

Keith smiled and stood, his legs shaking slightly as he stepped towards the citizen doll. Step after step, he walked closer. He reached out his hand to grab the doll and end the final when… the smell of smoke wafted directly into his face.

Keith yanked his hand back in a panic and stared, wide-eyed, at his still burning hands. Keith cursed under his breath and clenched his fists, willing the heat to leave his hands. Nothing worked. His veins were blazing from the overuse of his powers and even his deep breaths weren’t retuning them to normal.

Tears burned in his corner of his vision, and Keith sunk to the ground.

 _Not now, not now_ , he begged. _I can’t burn the citizen doll!_

Keith clenched his fists again, but his panic was only making the heat worse. Small, candle-sized flames had sprouted from the tips of his fingers and were slowly making their way up the callused skin on his fingers. His chest began to tighten, squeezing all the air from his lungs. His breathing responded in shallow, quick huffs of air. All the noise around him drowned into a mass of buzzing, as if cotton was shoved into his ears. Heat washed over his entire body.

Out of everything he’d done today, why did his powers decide to act up _now_? What kind of statement would he make if he defeated this course yet failed by setting the one thing he actually had to keep safe on _fire_?!

In the classroom, Lance’s hands were clenched in his hair, pulling as hard as he could to ground himself.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Hunk what’s happening!” Lance hissed.

“I don’t know!” Hunk said in a panic, his eyebrows scrunching in concentration. “He’s too far away, I can’t tell what’s wrong, but I think he’s having some sort of panic attack.”

“What?” Lance whispered in horror, his mouth dropping open and his hands falling limp into his lap. “Was this because of his powers?”

Hunk hummed nervously, “Uh, maybe? It looks like he tried to grab the citizen doll, but his hands were too hot to grab it without burning it. He knows he’ll fail if the doll catches on fire.”

Lance closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and crossed his arms on his desk, digging his head into the crook in his elbow.

“What can we do?” he whispered to himself.

_How can I save him?_

_All Keith has to do is cool his hands down and save the citizen. He already defeated the other obstacles. This is the only thing left._

Lance glanced up at the screen. _And he only has 45 seconds left._

Lance turned around and pulled Pidge in close.

“How far was I able to use my powers without touching anything when we tested them?” He whispered, just loud enough for Pidge to hear.

“Uh, about 55 meters, why?” Pidge asked, before realization dawned upon her in horror and answered her own question. “Lance, don’t you dare. That’s way too far! You could freeze Keith’s hands off, or- or, freeze the entire gym, or- I don’t know! The gym is on the entire other side of the campus, there’s no way you can reach there!”

Lance smiled anxiously. “I have to at least try.”

“No!” Pidge said, “No you don’t!”

Lance silenced her concerns with a wave of his hand. “I won’t actually use any powers until I’m positive I can only use them to cool down Keith’s hands. Nothing will go wrong.”

Pidge frowned, opening her mouth and ready to retort, but Lance had already turned back around and closed his eyes. Only 20 seconds left to help Keith. There was no time to argue.

As Lance called out to the deepest parts of his power, time seemed to slow to a standstill. It was as if everything around him had been frozen.

At first, his powers called out desperately to find the purpose of their summoning. Everything was dark. Lance began to panic as Keith’s essence was nowhere to be found.

Slowly, a flickering red light floated forwards from a dim corner in his vision and morphed into a frayed ribbon. It danced in the center of his mind’s eye, begging to be followed. Lance’s powers eagerly trailed alongside the ribbon, racing to get to its source. The ribbon twisted and turned through hallways, doors, and rooms, and finally, it exploded into a starburst of dazzling, bright, red light.

Lance felt _everything_.

He felt the sweat dripping down Keith’s forehead. He felt the shallow yet painful breaths racking Keith’s body. He felt the extreme heat coursing through Keith’s veins, fighting for control.

Even though Lance was overwhelmed with the onset of raw feelings and emotions, Lance’s powers acted as if everything was muscle memory. They immediately went to work.

His powers targeted Keith’s hands first, cooling down the source of the heat. Even though Lance’s body was still inside his classroom, he swore he could physically feel the relief of his powers working all the way at the other end of the school.

The coldness traveled up Keith’s arms, diffusing the painful heat that was consuming his control. Lance felt Keith’s heart rate began to steady and his breathing return to normal. Lance, now satisfied with his work, let go.

Letting go of his power was worse than starting it. If Lance’s consciousness was a rubber band, stretching thinner and thinner the further away it got when trying to use his powers on Keith, his powers snapping back into his body was the painful release.

And it _hurt_.

A _lot_.

Lance coughed and spluttered for air, his head pounding in beat to his heart. He groaned and pressed his palms into the sockets of his eyes, praying for any sort of relief from the assault of hurt and confusion. Pulling his hands away from his eyes, Lance realized he made a big mistake. Everything in front of him was a blur and everything was spinning. He blinked quickly, hoping to clear his vision, but the world only spun around him faster.

Lance groaned and folded his arms across his desk, ducking his head into the corner behind his elbow. The darkness helped with the immediate dizziness, but he still felt as if he was on the inside of a washer during the spin cycle. Lance vaguely realized his friends were trying to get his attention by gripping his arms tightly and speaking in his ear, but all his senses blurred into one inconceivable mess.

 _Lance? Lance are you okay?_ A familiar voice pushed through the confusion and pain in his mind and projected directly into his head.

“Yeah, Hunk, I’m fine,” Lance whispered out loud, afraid to reply mentally and risk the accidental release of his emotions onto Hunk. Lance was barely managing to keep this mess his own.

 _No, you’re not. You feel..._ Hunk trailed off, changing the subject. _Something is wrong. You overdid it with your powers. That was way too far of a distance for you to freeze something._

“I had no choice. He would have failed his exam and he would have been even more scared of his own powers. I couldn’t let that happen.”

_But now you have to take your final. There’s only two people in between Keith and you. You’ll never recover in time._

“Huh,” Lance scoffed. “Sounds like someone is doubting my ability. I’ll be okay, dude, seriously.” He forced himself to lift his head and look at Hunk, attempting to portray strength, but his vision had other plans as the world once again began to black out.

He quickly ducked his head back into his arms. “Okay, on second thought, you might be right. I feel like shit.”

Hunk bit his lip and ran his hands up his face and through his hair.

 _I think I can help, but you have to let me in,_ Hunk told him.

Lance sighed, knowing he had nowhere near enough energy to argue right now.

“Yeah,” he said, carefully deconstructing the mental barriers trapping everything within and opening his mind to his friend. “My head’s an open book. Go for it.”

Hunk closed his eyes and probed Lance’s brain for the source of his discomfort. It was like floating through a sea of foreign emotions and thoughts that did not belong to himself. Hunk knew what he was feeling inside Lance’s mind did not belong to his own consciousness, but the pull to succumb to Lance’s suffering was almost unbeatable. Hunk forced the horrid feelings away and continued deeper into Lance’s essence.

After a few moments of searching, Hunk found the source. If someone had asked Hunk to explain what rooting inside someone else’s brain was like and finding the source of their troubles, he would have a tough time explaining it. The closest he could have come to relaying his experience in a way in which others could understand would be the feeling of darkness seeping slowly into your skin, thick like humidity but a burning cold like ice.

A pulsing, dark mass of emotion was surrounded by feelings of dizziness, fatigue, and an occasional burst of memory involving Keith. The condensed bit of darkness was oozing sludge like a watery poison, falling off and floating inside Lance’s mind.

Hunk frowned in disgust and put his astral projection’s hands up against the dark mass, forcing himself to remain in contact despite the physical embodiment of what nightmares and bad days and harmful thoughts felt like. He shivered but still focused on destroying the mass in front of him. It fell away, piece by piece, dissolving into nothing.

Hunk pulled away and willed his mind to return back to his own body. He wasn’t sure how much he helped Lance, but it was definitely not as bad as before.

“How do you feel?” Hunk asked out loud.

Lance drew in a deep breath, held it, and exhaled with a loud sigh.

“Better,” he said. “I’m still exhausted but at least I don’t feel like I’m stuck on an endless merry-go-round.” He laughed bitterly.

“I can’t believe you did that, dude. That was insane!” Hunk said.

The corner of Lance’s mouth turned upwards very slightly. “Thanks, man. I just hope Keith is okay, though.”

As if on cue, Keith burst through the door, looking as if he had run all the way back to the room from the other side of the school. He barely even paused as the door swung open, opting to run straight towards his chair next to Lance.

He practically dove into his seat and immediately turned towards Lance, grabbing both of Lance’s hands within his own.

“Are you okay? Why did you do that? Idiot! You could have hurt yourself! Oh my god, you’re ice cold. But you’re still sweating! You shouldn’t have done that, that was too far! _Oh my god_ ,” Keith mumbled frantically. His hands twitched, unsure if they wanted to hold Lance tighter or give him space.

“Keith,” Lance said, aiming for a reassuring tone but ending up just sounding tired. “I’m fine. I couldn’t let you fail just because of something dumb like your hands getting too hot.”

“That was my problem to deal with!” Keith spat. “You shouldn’t be the one to suffer for something that was my fault!”

“Hey,” Lance fired back, determination burning away his previous exhaustion. “I’m allowed to help you. You’ve helped me with my powers countless times. How is me helping you any different?”

“It’s not- I mean, this was- it wasn’t-,” Keith spluttered. “This isn’t the same! You have to go up for your final in only a few minutes! You can’t risk your own score on my inability to—”

“Woah woah woah,” Hunk cut in. “You’re not allowed to use any extra help with powers when taking finals, which is why you couldn’t use your gloves. It’s all our fault that we forgot that, and we should have remembered when we were training. You practiced with your gloves on, which are built to help control your powers, so if anything, it’s our fault for not reminding you.”

Keith’s eyes flashed, “If it’s not _my_ fault then it’s definitely not _your_ fault.”

“Great,” Pidge said. “So, we agree that it was nobody’s fault and we’ll just have to train harder next time, okay? Okay.” She leaned back in her chair, yet still eyeing the boys in front of her, making clear the conversation was over.

“Fine,” Keith grumbled. “But what are we going to do about Lance? He can’t take his final like this.”

“Hey!” Lance argued.

“He’s not dizzy anymore, so at least there’s that,” Hunk said. “He’s probably just really exhausted, but unfortunately I can’t do anything to fix that.”

“I’m not _really_ exhausted, just… a little tired.”

“That’s still not good enough!” Keith frowned. “Remember what happened last time you used your powers when you were tired? You almost hurt Hunk and Pidge!”

Lance flinched back suddenly, misery outlining every crevice in his posture.

Keith’s stomach sunk. “I- I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yes. You did,” Lance whispered. “And you’re right.”

“No, he’s not,” Pidge said. “You were at your limit last time. And even if Keith hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t have been enough to cover us completely. But this time, you’re nowhere close to your limit. You should be able to use your powers in your final without the fear of them going haywire.”

 “I don’t know… I don’t want to hurt anyone. I mean, freeze an entire room?” Lance bit his lip.

“I mean, you’ve frozen the entire school once before, I don’t see how this is anywhere close to…” Keith trailed off as he noticed the incredulous looks from his friends. He pulled back self-consciously, patting his hair just in case his bad habit of his head catching fire returned, and rubbing a spot on his cheek he thought might have been dirty.

He returned their surprised look when he concluded nothing about himself was out of the ordinary. “What?”

“What do you mean I froze the entire school once!” Lance whisper-shouted.

“I- what do you mean _what do I mean_? It was like my first day here when I got locked in that closet and you accidentally used your powers too much and Shiro had to—” Keith’s eyes widened and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Oh my god,” Keith said into his palm. “Fuck.”

“Keith,” Pidge spoke very slowly. “What the _hell_ are you talking about.”

Keith shrunk in on himself, his hands tapping frantically on his legs, “I’m not supposed to say, Shiro told me not to tell anyone. I can’t- he used his powers and I can’t _tell_ anyone.”

“I thought Shiro’s power was like, stopping time or something!” Lance cried.

“No, I mean, not really? I can’t tell you! It’s complicated!”

“How is it complicated!”

“Only a few people know and if the public media got their hands on what he could actually do, he would be captured or experimented on, and that already almost happened once! I’m sorry but I can’t tell you!”

“What the fuck,” Lance whispered in disbelief. “What the _actual fuck_.”

“I’m sorry Lance. Maybe he’ll tell you one day but it’s not my secret to share. He’s not ready for people to know. Besides, it’s honestly not that big of a deal. His powers are just… different.”

“What could I have possibly messed up so badly that he had to use his apparently crazy-ass power on me!” Lance asked.

“Nothing! Nothing, Lance! It was just to make sure you discovered the extent of your own powers before other people found out for you! Please, you have to believe me,” Keith begged.

Lance just looked at him with wide eyes. “I don’t know what I can believe anymore, Keith.”

Keith pursed his lips, thinking of a way to respond, when Professor Coran called across the room.

“Lance? I believe it is your turn to head up,” he said. “You better hurry, son. I think you missed it when they called your name the first time. The young lady in front of you is about to end and you’re next.”

Lance cursed under his breath. He turned to face Keith.

“We’re talking about this as soon as I get back,” he demanded.

“We will. I don’t know how much I can tell you, but I’ll say everything I can,” Keith promised.

Lance looked at Keith for a few seconds more, while Keith tried to peel away the multiple layers of emotions clouding his eyes. It was impossible.

Lance blinked once, and was out the door.

-

Taking a final was just as horrifying as it always was. Even if Lance had better control over his powers, the point of this test was to get harder as you advanced through your years at Sky High. Lance already knew this year’s test was going to be extremely difficult, but the fact that he was already exhausted did not make things any better.

But it was okay, because he had a plan.

A really, _really_ bad one.

The scoreboard above his head flashed green, signaling the start of the final.

Lance walked a few steps onto the course and took the deepest, most relaxing breath he could muster. His heart was pounding viciously as he exhaled, and he forced himself to take another deep breath. His chest fell and rose in time to the slow counting inside his head.

When Lance was convinced his heart rate had returned to normal, he bent down and placed his hands on the ground.

_One shot to get this right._

His fingers ticked upon the calling of his powers, but it soon faded as the faint thrumming turned to waves of power. A hurricane was thrashing just beneath the skin, growing and swelling and begging to be released.

So he let it go.

A tsunami cascaded across the gym floor, encasing everything and anything in a thick layer of unbreakable ice. It swept through obstacles, filling the open joints of the robot and locking it together, blocking the arrows from being shot, trapping the vines beneath the trapdoor, and even covering the professor up to the chin. Trapping the professor was the most terrifying part, and Lance had to divert most of his focus to making sure he wouldn’t freeze the poor guy, but surprisingly, everything looked okay.

He wasn’t even that tired!

Lance took a step forward to where the citizen doll hung unscathed in the air. His leg wobbled and crumpled under his weight, and he fell to the floor.

Okay, maybe he was a _little_ tired.

He pushed himself to his feet and carefully walked across the ice. He reached up and safety unclasped the doll. The scoreboard lit up, displaying his time and score.

He got 100. A _perfect score_.

Lance’s mouth dropped open and the citizen doll fell out of his limp arms. He scrambled to attention and hastily picked the doll off the ground, smiling sheepishly.

A perfect score was unheard of. Normally people took too long, or didn’t defeat all the obstacles, or didn’t even save the citizen. The last perfect score was some kid many years ago who had two superhero parents. He then grew up to becoming one of the most powerful superheroes of all time.

So for the next perfect score to come from someone with _no_ superhero parents?

It was incredible.

Lance was on the verge of tears. _Happy tears!_ They were _happy_! But still tears nonetheless.

He really didn’t want his crying to be broadcasted to the entire school, so he carefully set the citizen doll on the ground and hurried out of the gym before anyone could stop him.

 -

Back in his homeroom, Lance walked in to a roaring round of applause. His friends, peers, and even Professor Coran were whooping and yelling and clapping their hands together louder than he had ever heard. His face broke into a smile so wide that he could feel his cheeks already beginning to tire.

He waved timidly and shuffled to his seat, thanking the people who congratulated him along the way. Eventually the applause died down and he could finally hear his friends speaking to him.

“That was amazing!” Hunk and Pidge cheered together. Hunk patted him twice on the back in a celebratory embrace.

“That was so great, Lance,” Keith said, his smile reaching his eyes and crinkling the skin at their corners. A smile so genuine was a rarity on Keith’s face. Lance made sure to memorize every line of it.

Lance reached forwards and intertwined their fingers together once again, happy to be back by Keith’s side.

“Look,” Keith began, “I’m really sorry about earlier. I should have told you sooner and I wish I could tell you—”

Lance laughed. “It’s fine. I was just really surprised and wasn’t thinking straight. I trust and respect both you and Shiro. I know you wouldn’t hide anything that didn’t have to be hidden.”

Keith exhaled in relief.

“One day,” Keith promised, squeezing Lance’s hand.

Lance chuckled softly.

“I don’t really care what might happen one day. I’m just happy to have you right now.”

 

 


	13. There's Nothing Worse than a School Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the beginning of the end! there will be two more chapters after this, with the possibility of an epilogue if i can convince myself to write it. i really do want to write an epilogue, so hopefully i will be able to find the time! 
> 
> thank you to everyone reading this story, regardless of whether you were here since chapter 1 or if you are a new reader. i had no idea this fic would get the support it did, and i am incredibly grateful to every single person who has left a kudos or a comment. without you all, this would not exist! i hope you enjoy this chapter! i will try to get the next one up as soon as possible <3

Lance stood outside Shiro and Keith’s house, digging his toe into the dirt. His heart hammered furiously in his chest as he fiddled with the bouquet of flowers clutched between his hands. The rational side of his brain is telling him there’s no need to be nervous, but of course, he still is anyways.

Lance didn’t have much time to catch up with Keith during the last two days of finals week, between classmates congratulating him on his perfect score every time he walked through the hallways and with the last day of student body president campaigning. On Friday afternoon, the entire school had voted for who they wanted to be student body president. After that, there was nothing Lance could do to try to earn votes.

But tomorrow night was the school’s end of year dance, where the student body president would be announced to everyone. Even though Lance and Keith were going with Pidge and Hunk as a group of friends, Lance, after hours of pacing back and forth in his room and finally getting convinced by his older sister, Veronica, decided he should ask Keith to go with him personally.

As his _date_.

Lance huffed furiously and brushed his hair out of his face, fixing it in the reflection of a window one more time before stepping up to the door. He reached his hand up and bit his lip, closed his eyes, and rapped out three loud knocks on the wooden door before he knew his confidence would fail him. He stood back and held himself upright, trying to keep his composure collected, as he waited for the door to open.

The seconds ticked by and nobody answered.

_Maybe he wasn’t home? Maybe this was a sign that it was a mistake._

Lance nervously hummed a quick verse of the Jeopardy waiting song to time how long he was standing at the door, something he did when he went door to door selling bake sale goods through his swim team when he was younger. After two rounds of the song, Lance decided that neither Shiro nor Keith were home, so he let the bouquet of flowers fall to his side as he turned away from the house.

As soon as Lance took the first step down the driveway, he heard the door open behind him. He spun around and snapped the flowers back up to his chest at the speed of light.

The door opened wider and Shiro stepped out into the light of the sun.

“Lance?” he asked. “What are you—” Shiro cut off as he looked down and saw the flowers, along with an incredibly flustered Lance.

“I see. I’ll go get Keith,” Shiro smiled, stepping back inside but leaving the door cracked open.

Lance stood there, eyes wide, quickly running his rehearsed lines through his head for the thousandth time since he had arrived at the door. He was lost in the second verse when a new figure pushed the door open wider.

Standing there, in all his mismatched clothed glory of both a red shirt and a different shade of red shorts with two different black socks, was Keith Kogane himself.

“Lance?” Keith asked, surprised.

Lance smiled and cleared his throat, opening his mouth to speak, when his entire prepared speech decided to float out of his brain. He faltered, mouth agape like a fish on land, as he felt his hands begin to sweat.

He rocked on to the tips of his toes and cleared his throat again, wiping each hand on his pants one at a time.

“Well,” Lance started, smiling nervously, “You see, I had a speech and everything but I, uh… If I can just remember how it started…”

“Lance, I had no idea you were coming.  I’m still in my pajamas,” Keith gestured to his mess of an outfit, “and I haven’t brushed my teeth yet because this is the first time I’ve left my room today. It’s almost 1pm. I can assure you that you are the more prepared one out of two of us. You don’t need a speech.”

“Right,” Lance said slowly. “I guess I’ll just ask you upright then.”

Lance paused, looking up at Keith, who was focused intently on Lance’s face, as if it was the most important thing in the world. Lance felt his face heat up and he brought his head down bashfully, staring at a soft lilac flower poking up above the mix of red and blue roses.

“So, I guess, what I wanted to say was…” Lance dared himself to look back up. Keith’s focused gaze coaxed the final part of the question out of him.

“Would you like to go to the dance with me tomorrow?”

A smile broke out across Keith’s face, so wide Lance was afraid it would continue all the way around the back of his head and split his face in half. Keith ran forward and pulled Lance into the tightest hug he’s ever received, and as someone who gets hugs from Hunk almost daily, this was an incredible feat on Keith’s behalf.

Lance hugged back instantly, joy bubbling up from inside him and bursting out in the form of delightful laughter. Keith laughed too, burying his face deep into Lance’s shoulder and basking in all the warmth it provided.

“So, what’s your answer?” Lance joked, mumbling fondly into Keith’s hair.

“Yes,” Keith said, pulling back, not even trying to suppress his happiness. “A million times, yes.”

Lance beamed back at Keith, positive his body was going to tear itself apart from happiness alone. Lance’s eyes took in the glowing boy in front of him, sliding down from Keith’s irises, following the curve of his nose, and finally focusing on Keith’s lips.

As if reading Lance’s mind, Keith leaned forward and pressed those lips to Lance’s. Whenever one of them would be able to relax their face, the other would break into a mile-wide grin. It was by far their clumsiest kiss, but arguably their best.

“Woah,” Lance said after breaking apart for air, once again leading in for another quick kiss, this time to the tip of Keith’s nose.

“What?” Keith asked.

“Two things.”

“Hm, okay. Tell me, sharpshooter.”

“One, I love you. So, so much.”

“I know. And I love you, too.”

“Two, you were right about not brushing your teeth. Your breath smells horrible.”

Keith pushed Lance away with a fake scowl. It would have been intimidating had the corner of Keith’s mouth not have been pulled up into a faint smile.

“This is what happens when you show up to my house unannounced. Maybe text me next time?” Keith said.

“Babe,” Lance deadpanned. “That totally would have ruined the surprise. I am quite the romantic. You always need to be ready at a moment’s notice to explore the world if I show up at your door unannounced.”

“Woah,” Keith paused, “does this mean you gonna be the type of boyfriend I see on twitter where you bring me food at 3am when I text you that I’m hungry?”

“I’m 17, Keith. Driving curfew doesn’t end until 5am. But I could be the type of boyfriend to buy you a human-sized teddy bear for your birthday?”

“Hm,” Keith hummed. “I’m going to hold you to that. I expect a giant stuffed bear for my birthday.”

“Really?” Lance asked, surprised. “I was kinda joking. You don’t want… I don’t know… a new knife set or something?”

“I already have a cool knife. I only want one and I only need one,” Keith shrugged. “But you know what I don’t have? A giant teddy bear. And I need it.”

“Okay, okay. One teddy bear it is,” Lance chuckled.

Lance pulled out of their embrace to tuck a stray strand of hair behind Keith’s ear, when a soft thump of something hitting the ground below caused them both to look down.

“Ah, shit,” Lance grumbled, bending down to pick up the crumpled bouquet of flowers laying pitifully on the ground. “Good thing you already said yes or else I would have had to convince you with a few horribly deformed flowers.”

Keith hummed, picking through the contents of the bouquet. “I think you can still save this one,” he said, motioning to the one purple flower that had stood out among the rest. Surprisingly, it was undamaged.

“I think you’re right,” Lance bit the corner of his lip in a half smile, pulling out the lilac flower. “And I have just the right idea where to put it…”

Lance turned the flower around, pointing the stem in Keith’s direction, and gently placed in behind the crook of his ear.

“Perfect…” Lance whispered, watching with satisfaction as a faint blush dusted Keith’s cheeks.

“The flower or me?” Keith joked.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one,” Lance teased. “I’m going to have to go with the flower.”

“Maybe you can take the flower to the dance tomorrow instead of me.”

“Now why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, maybe because you just said a flower was more perfect than m—” Keith was cut off as Lance leaned in and gave Keith one more quick kiss to the lips.

“Nothing in the world is more perfect than you,” Lance promised. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Keith smiled. “Okay.”

\--

Keith had never been to a school dance before, but this was almost exactly what he expected.

Loud music played over the speakers, filling the room with some sort of electronic pop that a few students knew but most did not. It was hot, sweaty, smelly, and a weird mixture of both too bright from the flashing strobe lights and too dark from the overhead lights turned off for ‘effect’.

But Lance was enjoying himself, and that’s all that mattered.

“Hey Keith, you want anything to drink?” Lance yelled, voice just barely carrying over the noise of the music.

“What do they have?” Keith shouted in response.

“Water, lemonade, and fruit punch, I think.”

“I’ll take some lemonade, thanks.”

“Sure thing! I’ll be right back,” Lance squeezed Keith’s hand once before wandering away to fetch the drinks.

Keith watched Lance walk across the gym floor and out the door into the hallway, before turning to find Hunk and Pidge. They had all been dancing together before, with Hunk and Lance actually having good rhythm and fluid dance movements while Pidge and Keith were kind of just bobbing along, but after that ended, Hunk and Pidge respectfully gave Lance and Keith a few moments alone.

They hadn’t gone far, as they were only standing a few feet away and talking to some other friends, one of them being Shay. Although Hunk and Shay had not gone to the dance together, due to Shay working on the student body council and running a large portion of the dance, they were still a wonderful couple tonight. Shay had apologized profusely many times for not being able to go to the dance as Hunk’s date, but Hunk was more than understanding.

“Hey guys,” Keith said as he walked over. “I guess you got to sneak away for a few moments, Shay?”

“Oh, I did! The student body president announcement isn’t for another few minutes and everything is flowing so smoothly that I was able to slip away and see Hunk! Doesn’t he look fabulous?” Shay gushed, motioning towards Hunk’s sleek black suit, complete with a soft yellow tie which complimented his outfit perfectly.

 Now, Keith may have a boyfriend whom he loves _very_ much, but anyone with eyes would admit Hunk looked stunning.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed. “Hunk, you look really good. Your tie is great. Yellow is definitely your color.”

“Thanks guys,” Hunk said bashfully, tucking his head down and against Shay’s shoulder.

They had been dating for almost two years now, but Hunk and Shay still acted like they had gone on their first date just yesterday. Keith wondered if they would act this way if they continued being a couple years into the future, and he assumed yes. They were the type to fight with the other at the end of a phone call, saying ‘no, _you_ hang up!’ a thousand times until someone’s phone died. It was

Keith wondered if Lance and him would stay how they were right now.

If they’d stay… _period_.

A soft tap on his left shoulder shook him from his thoughts, as he spun around and found himself face to face with Lance.

“I got your lemonade,” Lance said with a smile, handing Keith is drink.

“Oh, thank you,” Keith replied, his lips tugging into a slight frown, despite all his efforts to prevent them from moving.

“You okay?” Lance asked in concern, his now free hand holding loosely onto Keith’s elbow.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just a little loud in here. Could we stand outside?” Keith asked.

“Of course,” Lance said, grabbing Keith’s hand and leading him out the door.

Once they were outside, Lance pulled Keith over to an empty table and sat down, patting the seat next to him and prompting Keith to sit down as well.

After a few silent moments, Lance smoothly broke the silence.

“You know, you look incredibly handsome tonight,” he said nonchalantly, as if he was simply stating a fact, like the temperature outside or the color of the sky. As if it was something irrefutable.

“Says _you_ ,” Keith replied, shocked. “I think your suit is the same exact color as your eyes. I don’t know how you did that, but it matches… really well.”

“Aww, thanks Keith!” Lance beamed. “My sister studies fashion design at her college and she had to make a piece for her final project. She decided to make a suit and ended up making it for me. I had no idea. She surprised me with it right before I asked you to the dance, actually. I almost passed out just looking at it.”

Keith laughed. “If you almost passed out from just looking at it, you should look at it while it’s on yourself. I can promise it looks a hundred times better on a real-life model like you.”

“Keith!” Lance wined. “Where are you learning all these lines! I need to up my game.”

“What can I say,” Keith smirked. “I have a really good teacher.”

Lance huffed, reaching over and brushing some barely visible wrinkles out of Keith’s suit. “Well, you need to tell your teacher to give you some advice on fashion. You look fabulous, but a red tie and a purple floral handkerchief isn’t the best combination for a black suit…”

Lance trailed off, eyeing what he thought was a floral handkerchief tucked into Keith’s breast pocket. Upon closer examination, Lance realized it was actually the lilac flower Lance had tucked into Keith’s hair during the previous day.

“You… kept it?” Lance whispered.

“I- of course I did!” Keith said, appalled that Lance would suggest Keith had discarded it like some sort of useless tissue. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know! It was just, you know, squished and damaged and I didn’t think you would hold on to it.”

“Well, you thought wrong. I put it in a glass of water as soon as you left, and I decided to keep it in my pocket for tonight. I didn’t really think about how it wouldn’t match my suit…”

“Hey,” Lance cut in, holding on to both of Keith’s hands. “You look fantastic. But you know what would look even better? If you had a white tie. It would let the purple stand out without the red tie clashing”

Keith tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows in question. “But I don’t have a white tie?”

“I know. But I do,” Lance said, already undoing his own white tie from around his neck.

Keith blinked for a few seconds while he processed why Lance was suddenly taking off his tie, before, “Oh! Uh, I don’t know how to tie a tie though, Shiro did it for me before I left.”

“Have a little faith,” Lance joked. He reached over, undoing Keith’s tie, before wrapping his own white one around Keith’s neck. “I can tie a tie in my sleep.”

Keith closed his mouth and stretched his neck out slightly, lifting his head and giving Lance as much space as he needed to finish tying his tie. Keith fought the blush creeping up his face every time Lance’s fingers brushed softly against his throat.

“There,” Lance said, leaning back to examine his handiwork. “Perfect.”

“But what about this?” Keith held up his own red tie in front of them both.

“Red goes pretty well with blue, don’t you think?” Lance asked, grabbing Keith’s tie from his outstretched hand and beginning to wrap it around his own neck.

“Huh, like fire and ice, right?” Keith smiled. “Like us?”

“Exactly like fire and ice. Just, you know, maybe a little more ice. Since my entire suit is blue,” Lance joked.

“I’ll have you know, the red tie is now going to be the best part of your outfit,” Keith grumbled.

“My poor boyfriend, so jealous of my stunning blue aesthetic. I’m sure your tie will look even better surrounded by the rest of my suit.”

“You wish!” Keith laughed.

“Now shush, I need to finish tying this incredibly _hot_ tie. Get it, hot? Because your fire is red, and the tie is red?”

“Yes, Lance, I get it,” Keith sighed. “You’ve only made the ‘hot’ joke about a thousand times since I’ve met you.”

“Eh, it’s still funny though. Now shh!”

Keith closed his mouth but continued to glare at Lance, sticking his tongue out when Lance’s eyes met his. Lance rolled his eyes and looked back down Keith’s red tie wrapped around his throat, his hands skillfully beginning to tie a perfect half-Windsor knot.

Now that they were sitting in silence, Keith and Lance could faintly hear what was happening inside the gym. The music had been lowered so that a speaker’s voice could be heard over the beat.

“Now that the tallying of votes for the student body president has been finalized, we are ready to announce the results!” a female voice echoed out into the hallway from the gym.

Lance gasped in surprise, eyes blown wide and hands stilled, as he dropped what he was doing and dashed inside. Keith yelped and immediately followed in quick pursuit, shadowing behuing Lance all the way to the edge of the crowd, which was circled around a stage at the side of the gym.

“After months of preparation and campaigning, the entire student body of Sky High voted for the one person they want to lead them into the future,” the girl on stage spoke into a microphone. Lance faintly remembered her from his time spent in the sidekick course. _Her name is Acxa,_ he thought.

“But only one of the many Juniors fighting for the spot ended up getting it,” she said, holding a small, white envelope out in front of her. “So, it’s my honor to announce your new leader!” She opened the flap of the envelope and pulled a small paper out from within.

“Leader?” Keith whispered in confusion at her choice of words. He turned to see if Lance had caught what Keith did, but all he saw was Lance biting his lip and clenching his fists. Keith reached over and worked his fingers in between Lance’s, allowing Lance to clench Keith’s fingers in apprehension.

“Well, this was no surprise!” Axca announced, getting a good look at the name on the envelope. “Your president is none other than… Lotor Galra!”

The room stilled.

Lance’s hand slackened against Keith’s, falling to his side.

A red tie slipped to the ground.

“Oh,” Lance whispered.

Nobody in the crowd was cheering.

The music continued to play.

“No, that must be‑ there must be a mistake,” Keith pleaded to empty air. “Lotor, he- I mean, he didn’t even campaign, did he? How did he win? Everyone voted for you?”

Lance bit his lip and wrinkled his nose, trying to hold back tears. His lips quivered when he smiled at Keith. “It’s fine, I just didn’t win. If the school voted for him, he deserves it.”

“But there’s no _way_ more people voted for him than for you! He’s a sidekick! People barely even know who he is!” Keith argued, movement out of the corner of his vision drawing his eyes to the side of the stage where a tall, whited-haired figure stood up.

None other than Lotor himself walked forward, not stopping until he stood by Acxa’s side at center stage.

“Thank you, everyone!” Lotor spoke as he leaned into the microphone. Keith’s skin still prickled in discomfort every time he heard his voice, reminded of their encounter only a few months earlier. His voice had the smoothness of honey but the flavor of sawdust.

“I am so glad to be your president,” Lotor’s voice filtered through the speakers, surrounding the students below. “Together, we can finally make Sky High the school it was meant to be. No professors, no separation between heroes and sidekicks, and no limitations on how powers should be used.”

As if a weight had plummeted in Keith’s stomach, he suddenly knew something was wrong.

“Lance,” Keith leaned over, tugging on the sleeve of Lance’s suit, trying to inconspicuously drag Lance away from the stage. “Something’s not right. Let’s get out of here.”

“However,” Lotor drawled, his mouth twisting into a gruesome attempt at a smile, “not everyone’s powers are strong enough. In fact, very few have even a fraction of the potential I will require.”

At this, another girl walked on stage, looming ominously behind Lotor and Acxa. Shadows fell oddly across her face, forcing Keith to strain his eyes to see exactly why. He gasped, noticing the two small, skin covered craters where her eyes would have been. Shadows filled in the empty sockets, bathing her face in an unnatural darkness. Lotor looked behind him and nodded in understanding at the eyeless girl.

“So, because of my first decree as your new ruler,” Lotor smirked, drawing the attention back to himself, “It’s my pleasure to inform you that only the strong can survive. I guess we will see who that may be, if any. Good luck.”

Screaming suddenly rose up from the crowd, scattered at first, but growing steadily as Keith saw his peers drop like flies in front of him.

“Shit!” Keith yelled, hands grasping frantically at his side for Lance. A familiar tingle started in his fingertips and quickly spread all throughout his body, engulfing his nerves in a blaze of fiery pain. Keith barely choked out a plea for help before red washed over his vision. He was out before he even hit the ground.

\--

Keith awoke with a pounding headache and the seeping chill of cold metal against his back. Muffled voices floated around his head, slowly becoming more and more clear as his senses returned to him. All at once, Keith remembered the severity of the situation, and jerked fully awake.

“What happened?” Keith yelled, eyes flying around the room, landing on a few faces of classmates he recognized. Some were crying.

“Hey, hey hey hey, it’s okay,” Lance dashed to Keith from the corner of the room. “I brought you here. We’re safe.”

“Safe from what?” Keith blinked, remembering the sawdust of Lotor’s voice filtering through the air and choking him. “Dammit,” he said. “Lotor.”

Lance grimaced, wringing his hands together nervously. “His powers are way more intense than we thought. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’s causing people to lose control of both their powers and their minds. Over half the- the people at the dance, they—” Lance cut off, his throat constricting and preventing him from talking.

 Horrified, Keith brought his hand up to his mouth. “Oh my god,” he whispered into his palm.

“They’re not dead,” Lance said quickly, forcing the words out before Keith could think otherwise. “I don’t know what’s going on inside their heads to immobilize them like that but… they’re not dead.”

“Damn,” Keith said, a horrible, swirling mixture of both relief and horror. “What are we going to do?” He looked around the room, taking in their surroundings. They seemed to be inside the school’s kitchen, Keith’s back against the cool metal of a dish washer.

“We’re going to save them,” Lance said, determined. There wasn’t a glimmer of uncertainty in his eyes.

“And how are we going to do that?” Keith asked skeptically. “If Shiro was here, maybe we would have a fighting cha— FUCK! Shiro! Where is Shiro! He said he got to the dance a few minutes after us!” Keith lurched forward and fearfully gripped Lance’s shoulders so tight, his fingers turned white.

“We need to find him!” Keith begged.

“Okay, we will! Hunk and Pidge can stay here while you and I go look for Shiro—”

As if summoned by the mention of his name, Shiro burst through the door, falling to his knees. He took deep, heaving breaths, forcing air into his lungs.

“Shiro!” Keith cried, running forwards and throwing his arms around his brother’s neck. “What the fuck happened?”

“I tried to… save as many … as I could,” Shiro said in between gasps of air, “but Lotor … he, I don’t know … there’s just so many helpless kids out there.” Shiro looked up, a single tear pooling in the corner of his eye and tumbling down his cheek.

Shiro wiped away the tear, set his mouth in a straight line, took a deep breath, and stood up on shaky legs. “I’m going back out there,” he said.

“No way!” Keith argued, at the same time Lance calmly said, “I’m going with you.”

“What? No! Lance, you can’t- ugh!” Keith pulled at his hair. He couldn’t stand to see the two people he loved most walk headfirst into danger. “How many times have you used your powers tonight, Shiro?”

Keith knew the answer to his question when Shiro purposely averted his eyes and avoided answering.

“Shiro, you look like you’re about to pass out. You can’t use your powers anymore,” Keith begged.

“I don’t care,” Shiro said. “It’s my job to protect all of you. I’m going to get as many people out of here as I can. I just needed to know if you were okay. Let me send you somewhere else, please. I can’t let you stay here with a mind-controlling maniac.”

“No!” Keith stepped back. “Don’t you dare save me before I can help save rest of the students. You know I can hold my own. We need to focus on getting the other students out first.”

“Hi, uh, sorry to intrude,” Lance cut in, “but what the _fuck_ does Shiro mean by getting people out of here? We’re kind of thousands of meters in the air without any busses to take us to the ground. You can’t exactly just throw people overboard and hope they land safely.”

Keith’s eyes jumped nervously between Shiro and Lance. “Uh, I mean, I don’t…”

“It’s fine, Keith,” Shiro sighed. “I don’t know how much of a secret I can keep after using my powers numerous times on students tonight. I’ll be lucky if I even make it out of here alive. It’d be an absolute miracle if I got out without anyone finding out what my powers are.”

“So… what _are_ your powers exactly?” Lance asked in what he hoped was concealed excitement.

“My short answer? I can… control the fifth dimension.”

“Oh,” Lance nodded, before the full weight of Shiro’s statement hit him like a bus. “Wait, what?”

Shiro chuckled tightly. “The long answer is that I can send myself and others through a dimension where there are multiple possibilities of outcomes for a certain event. I just placed the kids I saved in a future where they are safe. Even if this timeline doesn’t continue on the trajectory of the future I placed them in, they will reappear in this timeline in the place where they would have been if they were safe. I put all these kids in their homes, all at 12pm tomorrow, and all safe. Nobody will know anything was wrong while they were gone, because the fabric of time fills in the gaps where they were missing with false memories to make up for that blank space.”

“Okayyyyy,” Lance said, stretching out the end of the word. “I have absolutely no idea what that means.”

“You know when you saved me on the first day I got here?” Keith asked, turning to Lance. “I accidentally told you that you froze the whole school but nobody besides Shiro and myself knew. Even Hunk, who was standing right outside the door at the time, had no idea.”

“Yeah, I’m following,” Lance said, his lips tugging into a slight frown.

“Shiro moved the kids who were still inside the school to a different timeline where they weren’t standing inside when the school was frozen, to make sure they were okay. They don’t remember any of it because the fifth dimension filled in fake memories to keep the illusion of a constant flow of time itself. Does that make sense?”

“Uh. Maybe? I’m still kind of confused but I really don’t think now is the best time to explain it. We’re on a clock,” Lance urged.

“You’re right,” Shiro agreed. “I got everyone out of the main gym itself, but most of the people who were still conscious by the time I rushed in had ran out the doors. Lotor is just roaming the hallways, trying to find anyone who’s left.”

“We ushered most of the people in here,” Lance said, motioning to the kids huddled against the walls of the kitchen. Hunk and Pidge are back behind the counter comforting them all. Hunk’s using his powers to counteract whatever mind-control-think Lotor is doing, but he said he can only do it for a small space like this. Since he’s using his powers on so many people right now, his range isn’t as strong.”

“That’s fine. It’s really good, actually. That means we can bring the conscious kids we find into the room with all of you.” Shiro’s eyes scanned the crowd of students once more. “Our top priority should be getting the unconscious ones out of here.”

“I agree. And I’m going with you.” Lance said.

“There’s no convincing you two, is there?” Keith asked, not even waiting for an answer. “Fine. Then I’m going with you too.”

“Keith, no,” Lance protested. “You know what happened when Lotor used his powers on you the first time. You basically passed out. I had to drag you in here. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“It won’t!” Keith argued. “I wasn’t prepared then, but now I am. I’m not going to sit by while that bag of dicks hurts even more innocent people.”

Shiro exhaled loudly. “If you’re going to come, stay behind me. Let me get as many kids as we can find out of here. If you see Lotor, don’t engage. Let me fight him. Come back here as soon as possible.”

Keith and Lance eyed each other in understanding. They both knew they weren’t going to run away from Lotor, but they also knew Shiro wouldn’t let them come if they didn’t seem like they would listen to him.

“You got it, Mr. Shirogane, sir,” Lance said, giving a two-fingered salute.

“Alright, then,” Shiro said, cracking his neck and pushing the door to the kitchen wide open. “Let’s go take back our school.”


End file.
